North Hampshire charity seeks half marathon runners
Fundraiser for £5m campaign to build cancer treatment centre
A North Hampshire charity is looking for half marathon runners to help boost its £5m fundraising campaign.
The Ark Cancer Centre charity, based in Dinwoodie Drive, Basingstoke, is raising money towards a cancer treatment centre for people living in the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust area, including North Hampshire and parts of West Berkshire.
If plans are approved, the likely location for the new centre – which will provide support services and complementary therapies, alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments under one roof – is off the A30 close to junction seven of the M3, near Basingstoke and alongside a proposed new critical treatment hospital.
As part of the fundraising drive, Mark Jones, the charity’s director of fundraising and communications, is trying to recruit 100 runners to take part in the Destination Basingstoke Phillips Half-Marathon on Sunday, October 4, the sponsors of which include Newbury Building Society.
The team has been named Ark100 because Mr Jones, who is taking part in the run himself, is hoping that each of the participants on the charity’s team will raise £100 – and also that the team will number 100 entrants.
Mr Jones said: “I know that getting 100 people to sign up for the half marathon is an ambitious goal, but I really hope that local runners will get behind the charity and the cancer treatment centre project, which is going to save lives and change so many lives for the better.
“There has never before been a team of 100 people running for one good cause in the half-marathon, so I am hoping that our Ark100 team can set a new record as well as raising vital funds.”
A planning application for the new centre and hospital has been submitted to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
If approved, a public consultation, led by the local clinical commissioning groups, will take place later this year, with work starting on the buildings next year.
It is anticipated that the centre will open in late 2018.
Anyone who wants to join the Ark100 team should contact Mr Jones, email mark.jones@arkcancercharity.org.uk or telephone (01256) 360419.
