Our dear friend and colleague, Helen Snelson, was a lifeline and a shining light to so many in the history teaching community. A constant source of inspiration, intellectual, infectious enthusiasm and integrity, Helen was a role model and set an immeasurably high standard of what it meant to be a professional and a source of encouragement.

Helen was an advocate for celebrating a truly diverse history of the world. Marie Curie, a Polish chemist and physicist who pioneered medical technologies, and after whom the hospital which the Marie Curie charity was named, is Helen's kind of girl. A Pole, who left Poland in political protest, went to work in France to continue her studies at Sorbonne, and then dedicated her life to groundbreaking research to help others; Curie is a perfect example of connectedness and collaboration.

Like Marie Curie, Helen gave her life to an incredible cause and we are running to celebrate this. Community and collegialitywere central to how Helen approached life, work, and relationships, and so, as a group of friends and colleagues we thought that running this 'History Half for Helen' - planning, training, completing and celebrating - together would be an apt way to remember Helen and raise money for a valuable cause.