Horses - RUNNERS GEAR UP FOR COUNTRYSIDE RUN - July 2001 - Equiworld

RUNNERS GEAR UP FOR COUNTRYSIDE RUN

Thousands of runners will leg it through the centre of London this Sunday, many of them to raise cash for Britain's beleaguered rural communities.

The 350-strong Countryside Team in the 10km British Open Road Race on 22 July will run in aid of the NFU's Supporting Farmers in Crisis fund for farming families hit by foot and mouth and for the regeneration of the
farming industry.

Both city dwellers and farmers themselves will be putting on their running shoes and jogging from the Hard Rock Café on Piccadilly to St Paul's Cathedral, finishing on the Embankment opposite the London Eye.

They will be joined by South African-born teenage long-distance star Zola Budd-Pieterse, who represented Britain in the 1984 Olympics.

NFU Director General Richard Macdonald will join countryside supporter Clarissa Dickson Wright, the Lord Mayor of Westminster Councillor Harvey Marshall and Sir John Scott Bt to start the race.

He said: "It means a great deal to farmers that so many fund-raising activities - including this run - are being carried out to help them.

"These are desperate times and every penny raised will be put to the best possible use. The support of every runner will be cherished by farmers and their families."

General information about the 10km British Open Road Race is available at
www.british10k.org