In 2005, BUPA announced it had chosen Marie Curie Cancer Care to be its nominated charity for the 2006 BUPA Great Run series, which incorporates the BUPA Great Edinburgh Run, BUPA Great Manchester Run, BUPA Great North Run and BUPA Great South Run.
Marie Curie Cancer Care set itself a fundraising target of £500,000, to be raised through runner sponsorship, as well as encouraging BUPA staff to become actively involved. Money raised would be used by the charity to actively promote quality of life for people with cancer and provide support for their families, completely free.
As a result of having nominated charity status, Marie Curie Cancer Care recruited a staggering 7,091 runners for the BUPA Great Runs, including 173 BUPA staff. Celebrities who also ran for the charity included Amanda Burton, Denise Welch, Ingrid Tarrant, Carol Vorderman (who took part in the BUPA Great North Run in memory of Richard Whiteley) and Bill Turnbull, who received £301,603 sponsorship from readers of Shine On..., Marie Curie Cancer Care’s supporters’ newsletter.
Following on from the success, BUPA has announced that Marie Curie Cancer Care will continue to be its nominated charity for the 2007 BUPA Great Run Series.
Nicole Humphreys, BUPA’s community affairs manger said: “We have had such a great year working together, which has produced some fantastic results, that it was a natural next step to continue our relationship. We look forward to supporting Marie Curie Cancer Care in raising even more money this year. We also want to thank all our employees who have got behind the charity with such enthusiasm.”
Sandra Osborne, Fundraising Director, Marie Curie Cancer Care: “We are absolutely delighted with the huge number of people who chose to run for Marie Curie Cancer Care in our first year as BUPA’s nominated charity, and help us smash our fundraising targets. On behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care and the patients and families who will benefit from the funds raised, we’d like to express our warmest thanks to BUPA and all those runners who chose to support us. It really has been an overwhelming success, and we’re looking forward to working on the 2007 BUPA Great Run Series and to welcoming even more runners over the finishing line.”
January 2006
