Bath Half Marathon and Bath Rugby Club Reunion
19th March 2006
We are delighted to announce that the massive fundraising event for CRY organised by former England rugby star Simon Halliday (left) has been an unqualified success.
Simon Halliday played Centre for England and Bath, and he was joined by a fantastic number of ex-Bath and ex-England colleagues (and one former Australian international!) who came along to help make an unforgettable day.
The first part of the fundraiser, saw Simon and some of his old rugby pals taking part in the Bath Half Marathon.
Then, after the run there was a reception at Bath Rugby Clubhouse. This proved to be something of a reunion for the former rugby players, and was also a fantastic awareness raising event for CRY.
The day was attended by a plethora of big names from the world of rugby, including Will Carling, Michael Lynagh, Jason Leonard, Mike Teague, David Egerton, Jonathan Callard, Tony Swift, David Trick, Richard Hill, Jonathan Webb, Paul Ackford, Gareth Chilcott, Victor Ubogu, Jack Rowell and more.
New CRY Patron John Inverdale was also at the event, and was one of over 70 people who ran the Bath Half Marathon for CRY.
The fundraising efforts were in memory of Sebastian English, who died suddenly in February 2004 at the age of 15 whilst playing rugby for Haslemere RFC. Sebastian’s father, Howard English, died in similar circumstances in 1993 whilst playing rugby for Esher, aged just 32. Simon Halliday was coaching Esher when Howard English died.
Both Sebastian and Howard unknowingly had a rare and inherited heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) – one of the rare heart conditions that CRY is seeking to raise awareness of.
Speaking after the event, Simon said “I think we achieved everything we set out to do – we raised the profile of CRY. We all felt that Rugby Union should try and promote screening for arrhythmia in young people. The fact that eight people die a week of SADs is unbelievable”.
He continued “It was a great day, a great reunion, and fantastic to see the guys who didn’t run too, like [Gareth] Chilcott, [Stuart] Barnes and [Graham] Dawe.” (At the reunion held in the afternoon after the race). “The Bath Half is so exciting, and it was brilliant to see 70 runners, all running in the same gear, all really passionate about CRY”.
“I’m still hurting now – I haven’t run properly for 9 years! It was a shame that Will [Carling] couldn’t run. He was really disappointed, and had been training for ages. The same for Rob Andrew, though he knew a bit earlier. I didn’t think Jason Leonard would run with his chest infection either, but he insisted he wanted to do it, which was great. For all of the guys, who aren’t really athletic at all any more, to do a run like this is really impressive.”
“The only time I was worried was when I sent some people down to the [Bath] ground with kit for 70 people. They were all like school kids in a sweet shop. I arrived and it was all over the place. I tried to get it sorted, and someone had wandered off in Tony Swift’s kit. He was never going to fit in a pair of small shorts!”
The former rugby players were joined in the Bath Half Marathon by a number of Sebastian’s school friends and teachers. Many of Simon Halliday’s friends from outside the world of rugby also ran for CRY.
Money raised by the event is still coming in and being counted, but over £100,000 has already been raised just from online donations web pages.
A special mention must also go to Tony Priggen whose fantastic collection bucket efforts on the day raised £203.77 in a very short space of time!
It is still possible to sponsor Simon for running the Bath Half Marathon, please visit his online donations page at www.justgiving.com/SimonHalliday
The Half Marathon was a particular challenge for Simon. Since retirement from International Rugby in 1992, Simon has been unable to run due to an arthritic left ankle – the result of a dislocation as far back as 1983.
In 2001, Simon eventually underwent a fusion necessitating the insertion of two metal screws through the ankle joint. It has been so successful, that he felt able enough to consider running again.
