Father and son team up for Edinburgh marathon for BRAKE

PSNI Inspector Paul McCracken and his 20-year-old son Ross are already training for the 26 mile run which will take place in May next year.

They are running the marathon for BRAKE in memory of their daughter and sister Shannan who was killed in a road accident in Ballymoney in 2009.

Shannan was just 17 when she died and a pupil at Dalriada School in Ballymoney.

Paul told the Times: “Our motivation for running the marathon is because of Shannan’s death and the number of deaths on our roads.

“We just want to keep trying to get the road safety message across.

“BRAKE does fantastic work helping those bereaved through road accidents. They also do great work getting the road safety message across by visiting school groups so that’s the reason we chose to support BRAKE.

“We chose the Edinburgh marathon because we knew BRAKE were offering places in that marathon - that’s what started our interest.

“Then we decided that if we were going to undertake a marathon, we would make a weekend of it, rather than just driving to Belfast, running the marathon and coming home.

“It somehow makes it more special and gives it more family meaning. My wife will be coming over with us for the weekend to support us.

“While Ross and I each have to raise at least £400 in sponsorship, I have set my target a little higher at £1,000, but even if I don’t reach that target, whatever we raise for BRAKE will be very welcome.

“I’m not asking people to sponsor me but if anyone would like to donate that would be great,” said Paul who has set up a justgiving page.

Paul also stressed that he and Ross are personally covering all travel and accommodation costs for the trip to Edinburgh so “all the money we raise will go to the charity”.

The McCrackens have started off well on their training regime for the 26 mile race.

“Neither of us have ever run a marathon so we are both taking it easy to start off with,” said Paul.

“We are doing about four miles at the moment because you don’t want to start out too fast and end up injuring yourself early on.

“It will just be a matter of increasing the number of miles and the number of runs we do each week but we have plenty of time yet.

“I am so pleased that Ross has also decided to run, we can support and motivate each other during the long winter training runs, and to achieve our goals.”