A Calne and Chippenham group bash the gremlin of cancer

Louise Currie, of King Edward Close, Calne, signed up for the run at Lydiard Park in Swindon for the second time, after taking part with a smaller group of nine women last year.

At that time she helped her nan Linda Pyne, who suffered from liver cancer, complete the 5km course by pushing her round in her wheelchair. This year she decided to run in her memory.

Miss Currie, 23, who works in merchandising, invited friends to take part in the event by publicising it on Facebook. Her nan, who died in March this year, inspired the team’s name Gremlin Bashers.

Miss Currie’s seven-year-old sister Lacie also completed the race and her brother Mitchell, nine, turned out to support the group along with other children, partners and friends.

She said: “I think a lot of people in the group have lost people through cancer – it meant something to everyone. We started to warm up and that’s when people started getting teary eyed. It was really emotional.

“When my nan first got diagnosed with cancer I hated that word, so we always used to say to my younger brother and sister that Nan had gremlins. When she had chemotherapy we used to say she was gremlin bashing – that was the idea behind it.”

The women ran in pink T-shirts, with messages or pictures of loved ones on the back, and one of the group, 25-year-old Jodie Elms, was the second runner to cross the finish line with a time of 22 minutes.

Miss Currie said: “Some of the messages you see when you’re running really choke you. There was a young girl doing it and she had her mum’s picture on the back of her T-shirt.

“The race was hard because of the heat. Everyone was gasping for drinks at the end, even the people who had trained really hard.

“It’s a really nice event to bring people together. We’re all from totally different backgrounds – one lady is a carer, a couple are in beauty. Some are mums and some of us aren’t.”

To sponsor the team, visit http://tinyurl.com/m3o9j3g