Organisers celebrate another successful Jarrow Relay for Life despite ‘horrendous’ weather

Organisers of the annual Relay for Life, at Monkton Stadium in Jarrow, have hailed another successful event despite the bad weather on Saturday, July 13.

Around 400 people, including 64 cancer survivors, had signed up to take part in the 22-hour long event - with many others turning out to show their support.

Ann Walsh BEM, the lead organiser of the annual event, has praised those who played a role in ensuring that the event was a success once again.

She said: “We thought that the weather last year was bad but it was absolutely horrendous this year as it was freezing.

“I think it rained from the moment that we started the relay until about 7am on Sunday morning.

“It looked like the bad weather did put some people off; however, we still had an amazing turnout.

“As it is every year, the event was just fantastic and it was great to see so many people coming out to take part and donating to Cancer Research UK.”

A fundraising target of £70,000 was set for this year’s Relay for Life and at the time of writing, more than double that has been raised - with the total standing at around £151,000.

The 2024 Jarrow Relay for Life also doubled up as a celebration for the event raising more than £1million since it was first launched in 2007.

Ann added: “To have raised £151,000 is just incredible and the money is still flooding in with a lot more that needs to be added to the pot.

“The target of £70,000 was ambitious but I never expected to raise more than double that amount so I can’t thank everyone enough for their efforts.

“A big thank you also needs to go out to people who have donated things like equipment and food as without that help, we wouldn’t be able to raise anywhere near as much as we do.”

Stay up to date with the Shields Gazette’s latest headlines and get a newsletter delivered to your inbox

As a first for the Jarrow Relay for Life, this year’s event saw 24 teams from Tesco stores across the North East taking part and raising money - with each store also donating food to other local charities in the borough.

You can still donate to the Jarrow Relay for Life fundraising by visiting: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/relayforlife-jarrow2024.