20 Jul 2022 Community

Karen Brook completes 24 hour running challenge for The Kirkwood

The Kirkwood have helped many families over the past 35 years. One of our supporters, Karen Brook, knows all about the help we can provide after her father was diagnosed with cancer and received support from our nurses before he died.

Following the death of her father, Karen was also dealt the devastating blow of losing her sister at the start of this year, and she was determined to raise some more money for The Kirkwood in her sister’s memory.

Having previously run a number of marathons back in 2017, Karen decided to take on another mammoth running task this year. She signed up for a 24 hour running challenge in which she pushed her body to the absolute max. 

On completing the run, she said: “I did 65 miles overall, I was aiming for 50 miles so I smashed my target which was amazing, I had to really push through the pain barrier in the last 15 miles, it was very difficult but I pushed on and completed it which I was happy about.

“I crossed the finish line at 11:50pm, I was exhausted, when I got to the end, my partner was there cheering me on, and it was really emotional at the end.

“It was a great event because there were lots of people doing it for different charities and we all supported each other as we were going around the circuit.”

Karen completed the challenge at Branham Park, managing to run a five-mile loop an incredible 13 times - an incredible effort that meant she completed 65 miles in total. That's the equivalent of running from Huddersfield to Southport in just under 24 hours!

Karen explained why she wanted to take on this challenge and why The Kirkwood means so much to her. She said: “The reason I wanted to do this challenge is because I lost my sister unexpectedly at the start of this year, she was a big believer in The Kirkwood and it is a charity close to our hearts due to the fact our father had a stay in The Kirkwood before he died.

“They are an amazing charity who really looked after my dad but also us as a family. They supported us really well and the nurses were outstanding, and for that we’ll always appreciate what The Kirkwood did for us.”