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A LOVING mother from West Devon, whose athlete daughter died young from an undiagnosed heart condition, ran the Paris Half Marathon to help avoid unnecessary deaths.
The sponsored race supports her bid to change safeguarding protocols and increase access to screening in order diagnose young sports people for heart conditions early. Hilary’s daughter Clarissa died last year just short of her 21st birthday in May, despite being highly active and fit as a member of Tavistock Athletic Club.
Hilary, of Lamerton, finished in 1 hour 40 and raised £10,840 in sponsorship which she said was phenomenal: “I ran in memory of Clarissa and as a tribute to the places I knew she regularly ran while she was on her languages year abroad in Paris. It was an emotional run and a pretty painful one physically as I was carrying a hamstring tendinopathy but thanks to the spur of Clarissa and so many of my supporters me I finished.
“Together with Clarissa’s Campaign for Cambridge hearts we have secured funding for two days of screening and are on our way to the four we have planned and which will take place every year until we have secured a more permanent solution which should screen thousands of the community each and every year.”
