International race in memory of a friend
526. Claire Smart
527. Callum Smart
A mother and son team from Swindon from have helped raise money and awareness for road safety charity Brake
Claire and Callum Smart, 40 and 12, from Swindon were inspired into action after the tragic death of Callum’s best friend, Daniel Climance, who was killed while on a family bike ride in June last year.
To keep Dan’s memory alive, Callum and Claire organised the “Doing it for Dan – Virtual Race” which took place in November 2015. The race encouraged people to run, walk, swim or cycle either 5 or 10k. The campaign was so successful that throughout 2015, 1,000 people ran a combined distance of 5,000 miles, raising over £20,000 for Brake. It spread to six continents from as far afield as Qatar, New Zealand and the United States running.
Brake was so impressed with the idea, that the community fundraising team decided to adopt the idea as part of their 2016 fundraising initiative and is asking people to sign up to take part in their own ‘virtual run’ in May 2016. Brake are using “Doing it for them” as their new 2016 campaign slogan
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
“With the Virtual Race Callum and Claire have created an innovative way to get people on six continents involved in raising awareness and money to support the work of road safety charity, Brake. Their efforts are an inspiring tribute to the memory of Callum’s friend, Dan, and will help to save the lives of other young people. So I am delighted to recognise Callum and Claire as the UK’s 526th & 527th Points of Light.”
Claire and Callum said:
“Callum and I are honoured and delighted to have received this recognition from David Cameron. Daniel’s death was an unbelievable shock for everyone, but the ‘Doing it for Dan’ campaign has meant that his memory continues to live on. I accept this award on behalf of everybody that took part, their support has been amazing and without them we would never have raised £20,000 for Brake. Thank you everyone for supporting us.”