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Team Clarkie is made up of:

• Lottie Clarke

• Steph Edwards

• Becky Harris

• John Hartley

• Louise Hartley

• Kate Sterland-Green

Together, we are running the 'Rob Burrow' Leeds Marathon on 14th May 2023, in support of 'Clarkie' - James Clarke; husband of Lottie; father of Martha, Ollie and Matilda, and Proprietary Partner at Knight Frank.

Hear more from James here: instagram.com/jamesclarke_kf

In late 2021, following numerous appointments, James was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND), a severely life shortening neurological disorder for which there is currently no cure. As you can imagine, it was an immense shock to James and his family, friends and colleagues. However with their love and support, and the help of his team at Knight Frank, James has been given the strength to face this challenge head on, and come out fighting.

MND is a rare disease with only 1,100 people diagnosed each year. However, there is a 1 in 300 risk of getting MND across a lifetime. The general medical consensus is that it is not incurable, it is just underfunded. So to that end, James has sent out the rallying cry to family, friends, colleagues and business associates to help with some crazy fundraising challenges to help fund much needed research into the disease and ultimately find a cure.

James and his friends have already raised an astonishing £500,000 since he started fundraising at the beginning of July 2022, which he is delighted with - but it has also spurred him on to do more! Team Clarkie's attempt to run the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon is the next of these challenges.

Most of Team Clarkie have not run further than 10km before we took on this challenge, so training has been tough and the marathon in Leeds is one of the hilliest in the country. We are nervous but will be ready to take it on in May. There are now over 12,000 participants due to take on the brand new route through Leeds that starts and ends at Headingley Stadium, and has been organised by Rob Burrow, the former Leeds Rhinos player who was diagnosed with MND in 2019.

Check out the 'Rob Burrow' Leeds Marathon here: runforall.com/events/marathon/leeds-marathon

The primary target of funds raised from James’ charitable challenges will be the Doddie Weir charity - ‘My Name’5 Doddie’. Doddie was one of rugby’s most recognisable personalities, earning 61 caps for Scotland and representing the British and Irish Lions. In June 2017 he revealed he was suffering from MND and, from the outset, was driven to help fellow sufferers and seek ways to further research this rare disease. Sadly the disease took him in November 2022.

But still, Doddie's vision of "A world free of MND" remains, and in many ways has grown stronger with his passing. The torch has been passed to Rob Burrow, his inspiring best mate Kevin Sinfield, and the many other people whose lives have been touched by this terrible disease.

Please give generously to help us make the vision of "A world free of MND" a reality.

Thank you,

Lottie, Steph, Becky, John, Louise & Kate

<<Team Clarkie>>