One of Wales’ greatest sporting legends, Lynn ‘The Leap’ Davies, today pledged to don his running shoes for Cardiff’s Bupa Great Wales Run on July 27th.
The popular sporting personality, along with Jane Slaughter who plays Tracy the barmaid in Eastenders, were accompanied by the RBS Six Nations and Triple Crown trophies at the official launch of the popular 10km running event at the St David’s Hotel today. Both trophies will be displayed on the day of the run for the thousands of competitors to admire as they run past.
Lynn has competed before in the Bupa Great Wales Run’s sister event, the Great North Run, in recent years.
Lynn, 1964 Olympic Long Jump Champion said: “It’s a good few years since I rang the Great North Run, which is actually a half marathon. Apart from the Bupa Great Wales Run being less than half the distance, at 10km, I also know that the course is nice and flat, which is good news! There’s a special atmosphere at these type of mass participation events and I’m looking forward to it.”
Andy Caine, the Bupa Great Wales Run Elite Athletes Manager, has ambitions to assemble another strong field for the event. Many will recall Berhane Adere of Ethiopia storming to success last year, before going on to win the Chicago Marathon.
One name already pencilled in is Bridgend born Jon Brown, who speaking from his Canadian home said: “I enjoyed the Cardiff race last year so I’d be happy running again… I’ve had a good long rest from training as I needed a chance to get myself in one piece again.”
Jane Slaughter took part in the inaugural event last year and is running to raise funds for Bupa’s nominated charity; Marie Curie Cancer Care. The other official charity are the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, who last year had boxer Enzo Maccarinelli running for them.
The first Bupa Great Wales Run attracted a field of nearly 4,000 competitors and organisers are expecting a growth in numbers this year. Entries for both the senior event and the shorter junior 2km run are now open at www.greatrun.org
Further information
David Hart, Nova International – 07771 983688
