In April 2024, Streamline was proud to sponsor Carrie Gunn at the London Marathon.
Carrie, from Orkney, was running on behalf of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, in memory of her father who sadly passed away five years ago.
Aiming for a sub-five-hour race, she crossed the finish line in an incredible four hours and 53 minutes.
And smashing past her initial target of just over two thousand pounds, she has so far raised an incredible £4,100 for the worthwhile cause – the only charity in the UK solely focused on tackling lung cancer.
And there’s still time to make a contribution – click here to donate.
“You don’t have to be a smoker to be affected by lung cancer, and there are often very few smyptoms,” said Carrie.
“Everything happened very fast. My dad really only had a sore back. But the speed at which it can affect someone is incredible.
“During the lead up to the marathon, I met someone who was running because her mum was living with lung cancer. Two weeks ago, her dad went to the GP and he was feeling unwell. After being diagnosed with lung cancer on the Friday, he had sadly passed away by the Monday.”
Carrie – a graphic designer for The Orcadian newspaper – reached out to almost 170 Orkney businesses in her fundraising efforts, but only received support from nine. Streamline was one of them.
She said: “I’m so grateful to Streamline and everyone that has donated. Their contributions have been so generous. I’ve been writing a fortnightly column for the paper about my marathon journey, and the people of Orkney have been really supportive.”
During the London Marathon, Carrie was part of Roy’s Runners – a group of 60 runners raising funds for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. Having met virtually via WhatsApp ahead of the race, she said it felt like greeting old friends when she spotted others wearing their sponsorship vest on the course.
Carrie explained: “Since I found out last June that I had a space, I have formed quite close friendships with a number of the other runners via the charity’s WhatsApp group.
“We all ran up to each other and hugged as if we’d been friends for many years, even though we’d never met each other in person before. It’s the strength of that shared experience.”
Having previously run the Loch Ness Marathon on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support in 2022, the London Marathon provided a different challenge for Carrie: battling illness, injury and transport congestion just to get to the start line.
She said: “I’d been on the ballot for the London Marathon for nine years, so when the opportunity came up to run for charity I knew I had to take it. I poured my heart out into a personal statement on the application form, and I was the first person they called to offer a place.
“Although I’d done 16 weeks’ training, I was really nervous. I had achilles issues, and I kept getting ill – my four and a half year old took home every bug under the sun from nursery!
“But when I started running, my first 16 miles were incredible. I’ve never witnessed anything like it: 50,000 runners, the crowd five-deep cheering you on. It was deafening.
“I felt my legs start to seize with about 7-8 miles to go, but I was determined to get to the finish line. The cheering helps – even if I did end up running an extra half mile weaving around everyone else on the course!
“As you run along the Embankment, you can see Big Ben and you know it’s just 800m to the finish line. The crowds were intense, and it was an experience I’ll never forget.”
At Streamline, we’re committed to supporting the people and organisations in our communities that are making a difference. We are proud to have supported Carrie in her fundraising efforts, and to help shine a light on such an important health concern.
