Retired primary school teacher Jill Booth deserves a medal for all her fundraising for East Cheshire Hospice.
In fact, she owns plenty of medals already, all souvenirs from the dozens of races she has entered.
Jill said: “I like the bling – I like the medals. I must have about 90 of them from my different races.”
Her latest challenge was the Macclesfield 10k in a year that saw her complete the London Marathon.
Jill Booth with her collection of medals.
She said: “I took up running when I reached 50 nine years ago.”
“I’d plodded round a few Race for Lifes and my son Mike made me enter the Manchester 10k in 2016 after I’d watched him in a half marathon at university.”
Jill has raised more than £4,500 for the Hospice since 2021 when she lost good friend Liz Norton (76) who had oesophageal cancer.
Jill said: “Liz was like a second mum to me when I was growing up. She was always there for me, and we’d often put the world to rights.
“She spent her last couple of weeks at the Hospice and I saw how fantastic they were with her, and us, as visitors.
“They just gave her the most brilliant care.
“I miss her and thought I must raise some money for the Hospice. I thought what better way than to give back to the place that looked after her.”
Jill is a parkrun regular where she also volunteers.
Jill competing in the London marathon.
She said: “I run about three times a week and tried to enter an organised race every month. The atmosphere during my first marathon was amazing.
“I had tears in my eyes rounding Buckingham Palace to approach the finishing line. I never imagined I could achieve something like that.”
Jill has run 28 races for the Hospice in four years, plus the Great North Run, Manchester half marathon, walls of Dubrovnik and a 5k in the Croatian city.
She said: “Raising money in Liz’s memory made it even more wonderful and memorable.”
Her next big target is next year’s Rob Burrow marathon in Leeds.
She said: “Mike encouraged me to do that first run, though he’s not run that much since. He has been my bag carrier, though, along with my husband Andrew and they’re both good supporters.
“The school children always liked seeing my medals after a race. It was a nice way to encourage them to stay active.”
