Congratulations to everyone from this department who ran the Cambridge Half Marathon.
Several members of this department took part. Well done to them for their stamina in pounding the streets for 13.1 miles.
Some were taking part for enjoyment or as a personal challenge. The Hunter Group's Ennio Lavagnini, one of our departmental Data Champions, was running for fun ("if you can call it that!") as was Deepti Kannan (pictured right), an MPhil student in the Wales Group, who "used to run cross country in high school, but I've never raced more than a 10K until now". Meanwhile Miguel Garcia Ortegon, a PhD student with Andreas Bender, was hoping to run his first half marathon "in under 1h 30min".
Josie Gaynord, a PhD student in the Spring Group whose research relates to antimicrobial resistance, runs to work regularly and says that the exercise helps clear her mind. She was taking part, as was Kathleen Pickett, our Welfare, Training and Development Adviser. Kathleen advocates for the benefits of exercise to wellbeing here in the department – and herself got into running as a way to combat stress. But she was also running this race to support the eating disorder charity BEAT.
Others running to support good causes include Ryan Geiser (pictured right), a PhD candidate in the Centre for Misfolding Diseases. He was running the Cambridge Half Marathon – and will be running the London Marathon next month – for the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK in memory of his late supervisor here, Professor Sir Chris Dobson. Ryan describes Chris as 'the greatest supervisor, mentor, and friend' and said that while preparing for the races "I keep re-reading his last email, sent a week before he passed away, where he encouraged me to continue taking on new and exciting projects."
As a scientist, Ryan explained on his JustGiving page, "I appreciate the way funding impacts the progression of research. I yearn to raise the funds to make an impact in the field of pancreatic cancer."
James Douthwaite, a fourth-year PhD student in the Phipps Group, also ran the Cambridge Half Marathon on behalf of the charity Wintercomfort. After graduating from the University of Bristol and moving here to Cambridge, as he explains on his JustGiving page, "one of the things that shocked me was the sheer number of people who were homeless and sleeping rough. I have always wanted to find a good way to help these people and I've always wanted to challenge myself to running a half-marathon. So I thought 'Why not combine the two?!' "
Another department member taking part was Alexandra Borrelli. She was running alongside her brother Michael as a warm up for the London Marathon. Alex is a postgrad in the Bender Group, studying for an MPhil based on the simulation of neuropsychiatric drugs using mathematical models and comparison to experimental databases.
She and her brother are raising funds for the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association, a genetic disorder that can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes, as a family member lives with this syndrome. "I've never done either of these races before, so though I've done lots of training, I'm very nervous and I've got my fingers crossed," Alexandra says.
Congratulations to all our runners.