A beautician has set up a Facebook page encouraging people to finish the final stretch of a half-marathon in memory of a 29-year-old Great North Run competitor who died on Sunday.
Stephanie Cochrane, 32, from North Tyneside, has organised a run on Sunday to honour Sam Wealleans, of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland, who died after he fell ill around 11 miles into the half-marathon.
The run will start at the junction between Larch Avenue and Prince Edward Road in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, and follows the final 2.1 miles of the Great North Run route which Mr Wealleans could not complete.
Ms Cochrane, who did not know Mr Wealleans, felt compelled to honour his life and support his family through their hardship, and has described the public’s response to her page as “incredibly overwhelming”.
“We will finish the run for him in his honour,” Ms Cochrane told the PA news agency.
The event will continue raising money for Mind, the mental health charity, which Mr Wealleans was running for in memory of his sister Carly and a close family friend, which so far has raised more than £22,000, out-stripping his target of £350.
“I’ve spoken with a member of Sam’s family. They’re extremely grateful for all the donations,” she said.
“When anyone takes part in the Great North Run, and particularly for charities and things like that, the last thing you expect is to obviously lose a loved one through it.
“It’s massively impacted, I think, the runners who ran past and witnessed what was going on. It’s absolutely devastated everyone and even the wider community.”
The beautician praised people’s generosity to Mr Wealleans’s fundraiser and has since spoken to her local council and police for help with event logistics.
“When I originally started the page it was because there had a been a few of us in the Great North Run group who decided we were going to do the remainder of the run in honour of Sam,” she said.
“I set it up so we weren’t commenting on the Great North Run page… and it’s just absolutely taken off from there.”
“I’ve been in talks this afternoon with South Tyneside Council and Northumbria Police with the logistics of the event because it’s gained the level of exposure that it has.”
She hopes the run will encourage people to continue donating to Mr Wealleans’s cause.
“The only message, really, is that my thoughts and prayers are with Sam’s entire family and friends,” she said.
“If anyone has any spare money, even just a couple of pounds, if they could donate to his page in his memory.
“He was doing the run for his sister. Any donation to that is now the aim to try and raise as much money for that as possible.”
A spokesperson for the Great Run Company said: “All at the Great Run Company are deeply saddened by Sam’s passing.
“We are continuing to support Sam’s close family during this incredibly difficult time, and our thoughts and sympathies are with all those who loved and knew him.”
