Eric Thomson
Eric Thomson's Fundraising Page
Fundraising for Stroke Association
Story
Running The Big Three For Charity
Local teacher Eric Thomson is facing the challenge of a lifetime as he gears up to run three big charity runs in 2010. Eric 47, Principal Teacher of Biology at Bell Baxter High School in Cupar will be running in the Edinburgh Half Marathon,the Edinburgh BUPA 10k and the Scottish Kilomathon. He will be raising money for the Scottish Stroke Association. Eric suffered a stroke on 2006 but since then has made a remarkable recovery thanks to tremendous support from friends and family especially his wife Lesley and two children Katie and Julia. The 31st of January 2006 is a date that will remain with him forever. All he remembers after collapsing while playing football at Elmwood College was getting out of an ambulance at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and being rushed into Accident and Emergency at great speed. Hours later in the Neurology Ward the doctors told him he had suffered a stroke and was lucky to be alive. This came as a huge shock to Eric and his family. He had a very good diet,was a non-smoker ,and exercised on regular basis,cycling to work every day and playing golf and football every week. Each year an estimated 150,000 people in the UK suffer a stroke. Most of these people are over 65, however anyone can have a stroke,including young children. The stroke affected his speech and movement on his right side for a long time and he was off work for four months. However after making a successful recovery he was determined this was not going to take over his life. “ I wanted to raise money for ‘The Stroke Association’ a charity who had in fact just opened a new Scottish Office in Edinburgh so all the money I raised would stay in Scotland. I ran the Edinburgh Half Marathon in 2009 raising a massive total of £2500 thanks to generous donations from friends and family with special mention going to The Yvonne Gray School of Dance who kindly gave me a cheque for £500 from the proceeds of their 2009 Dance show” Eric said Eric was very happy with his run finishing 305th from a field of almost 3000 in an excellent time of one hour 37 minutes. This year on the 18th April Eric is running the Edinburgh Half Marathon again, then 2 weeks later crazy as it may seem on the 2nd May he will be taking part along with 10,000 other runners in the Edinburgh BUPA 10k. The Edinburgh BUPA 10 k course is very spectacular taking in famous landmarks such as Edinburgh Castle,The Scott Monument,The Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace. Eric said “After a well deserved rest I hope to complete my third big race and run in the first Scottish Kilomathon on the 3rd Oct . The Kilomathon is 26.3km or 16 miles long and starts and finishes in the Royal Highland Center in Ingliston and goes over the Forth Road Bridge.” If you would like to sponsor me click the donate icon Kind Regards Eric Thomson