Local running club raises money for heart charity
The Ealing Eagles’ running club has raised nearly £1,800 for The Tom Clabburn Memorial Fund and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
The memorial fund was set-up following the death of 14-year-old Ealing schoolboy Tom Clabburn in 2007 from an undiagnosed heart condition. CRY administer the fund for Tom’s family who fund-raise and organise local cardiac screenings.
In the 10 years since it was set up, the fund has raised more than £160,000, enabling more than 2,500 young people aged between 14-35 to be tested for heart conditions. It has also funded the purchase of new screening equipment and research.
Ealing Eagles’ club chairman Thom Martini said: “The Eagles have supported CRY for many years through its involvement in the Ealing Half Marathon and the Andrew Carter Memorial Mile. It seemed a natural progression to make Tom’s fund our nominated charity for this year as we believe it is important that young people have the opportunity to access cardiac screening locally.“
Thom added: “We held several running and social events to raise the money and we are delighted that it will be used to support such vital work. Being runners we tend to think that we are all fit and healthy but tragically, as we’ve seen, that is not necessarily the case.”
Photo Copyright to Paul Clabburn
Many of the club’s runners take part in September’s award winning Ealing Half Marathon, which has again named CRY as an associated charity partner for the 2017. Members also turn out in large numbers to support the annual Andrew Carter Memorial Mile. Andrew died of an undiagnosed heart condition while taking part in the 2014 Ealing Half Marathon and his parents allow proceeds from the race to be paid into the Tom Clabburn Memorial Fund.
Tom’s dad, Paul Clabburn, said: “We are honoured to have been nominated as the Ealing Eagles’ charity for the year. Both individually and collectively, they have been extremely supportive to us over the years and we can only thank them for yet again putting such a tremendous effort into raising money for the fund. They are an incredibly generous group of people.”