Tell us about your heroes
Mar 22 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal
THE first entries have been arriving for The Journal’s Your Great North Run Award competition, this year themed One in a Million after the famous race’s landmark millionth entry last month.
Earlier this month, The Journal launched the contest which offers readers the exclusive chance to attend the gala event, The BUPA Great North Run Hall of Fame Charity Dinner.
Celebrities including Olympic oarsman James Cracknell and host Sue Barker, the BBC TV sports presenter, will be in attendance as six new names are inducted into the BUPA Great North Run Hall of Fame.
One nominee who is in with a chance of joining them at the black-tie evening at Gateshead’s Hilton Hotel on April 7 is selfless mum Terry Gibson, 52, who ran the 13.1 miles last year to raise money for local charities that had helped her son Michael, now 18, cope with Apert Syndrome, a condition he was born with which means he cannot speak.
Miss Gibson explained: “Apert causes abnormal bone and cartilage formation and after battling for years for my son to be able to take part in his everyday studies with more ease, myself and some friends and relatives chose Leonard Cheshire, which campaigns for disabled rights to run for, as well as a number of local charities.”
Last year, Miss Gibson, of Tennyson Road, Chilton, County Durham, won a landmark tribunal against Michael’s local education authority Durham County Council, having campaigned for teachers at her son’s school to be trained in the use of specialist equipment to help him.
She decided the Great North Run would be the perfect platform to take her campaign further, and raised more than £1,000 for Leonard Cheshire and other causes.
Craig Lee, 42, is Michael’s personal assistant and decided Miss Gibson deserved some recognition for her efforts.
He said: “Terry is always there for Michael and has given a lot up to campaign for the equipment he, and other people like him, need in order to access the education the rest of us take for granted.
“The Great North Run was just the tip of the iceberg with regard to the work Terry has done to highlight Michael’s case and I felt she would be a perfect candidate to enter into The Journal’s award competition.”
Miss Gibson said: “I had never thought of taking part in the Great North Run before and it was my sister who suggested it. It was a challenge but I would do anything to highlight Michael’s cause and this is an added and totally unexpected honour.”
Do you want to pay tribute to a loved one – or have an inspirational story about a colleague or friend’s Great North Run experience?
If so, we want to hear from you. Entries can be in the form of a short story, a poem, a song or simply a statement, and must not exceed 250 words. Entries, of more than 250 words, must arrive at The Journal offices by noon on Tuesday, April 1.
