Supermum Joruns 28 races to help good cause

Joanne’s odyssey began back in March 2015 when she completed the Hastings Half Marathon.

The charity is dear to her heart as she had lost her father-in-law to cancer, her mother and father both survived cancer of the womb and bowel cancer respectively, and her sister-in-law is still fighting a long battle with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Joanne, 35, from Hastings, said: “It soon became a reality when husband Lee started booking up the races and putting them in the diary.

“I am just a normal housewife bringing up three lovely daughters, and am not super fit by a long shot. I usually spend 15 minutes chatting before a parkrun starts, when I should be warming up!

“I started running when Lee was posted with the army to Afghanistan in late 2011, and have been running ever since I find running has helped me to lose weight and has boosted my self-confidence.”

“I clocked up nearly 500 miles in competitive events, and was averaging 100 miles per month during that period. I travelled all over the South East to compete in races and on one particular weekend ran Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday. It was exhausting both mentally and physically. I manage to set personal bests in some races; whilst in others I struggled simply to get round.

“After each bad race I promised myself that I would quit, but I was determined to finish the challenge in memory of those people that we had lost, to make my family proud and also to prove something to myself.”

For the last race, unknown to Joanne, husband Lee had set up a secret supportnetwork and had meticulously planned a race route with 19 other runners from as far afield as Surrey and Northampton joining Joanne. The 25km race around hills at Fairlight and Pett had an elevation climb of 3144ft with runners carrying heavy back packs. Lee carried a 40lbs backpack, but let Joanne off lightly with a mere 25lb pack.

You can help Jo increase her amount by making a donation to https://www.justgiving.com/Joanne-Cote/

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