Famous athletics stars to appear at Run Gatwick

Sally Gunnell will take part in the pre-race warm-up and start the Family Run, while Iwan Thomas, the Welsh former European and Commonwealth 400m champion, will be taking part in the warm-up and start the Corporate 5K, before jumping in to run the race himself.

Colin Jackson CBE, Welsh former sprinting and hurdling athlete, will also be there to show his support.

Ian Maskell, 57, will be competing as a wheelchair athlete using his slightly modified day-to-day wheelchair. A client at the Neurokinex spinal cord rehabilitation centre in Crawley, Ian says he felt compelled to take part and fundraise for the Neurokinex Kids Charity.

Ian was paralysed in a mountain bike accident five years ago. “It was just a normal bike ride for me but I went over some uneven ground, flew over the handlebars and landed awkwardly on my head,” he said. “My crash helmet saved my brain, but my spinal cord was badly damaged and it left me paralysed from the chest down.

“When I heard that the Neurokinex Kids charity was looking for Run Gatwick team members, I signed up without hesitation.

“The work being done at Neurokinex is simply amazing and the new kids gym has huge potential to help paralysed youngsters. I will be honoured to take part in the Run Gatwick race – it’ll be the first time I’ve entered an event like this and I reckon the 5K distance will take me around an hour to complete.

“Many of the runners will overtake me but that’s fine: it’s important to me that the paralysed children being treated at Neurokinex Kids see me taking part in my wheelchair. I’m doing it for them: they deserve the best possible rehab opportunities and by raising funds for the facility we can buy more specialist equipment for them.”

For more on Neurokinex, visit: http://neurokinex.org/

For more details, visit: https://www.rungatwick.com/

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