Friend of Matthew Blades doing the Great North Run in his vest for Parkinson's UK
A friend of PC Matthew Blades is going to finish the Great North Run on Sunday (13 September) wearing his vest for Parkinson's UK.
Blades, 37, was one of two police officers killed when a car driving the wrong way on the A66 during the early hours of 22 August struck the vehicle they were in.
Blades and his colleague PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed in the crash along with all five men in the car going the wrong way.
At the beginning of this year Matthew had challenged himself to run 10k a day in the month of January and managed it, then set himself the goal of completing a set of runs to raise money for Parkinson's UK.
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In March he made it through the Middlesbrough half marathon and a couple of months later he had the Sunderland half marathon, but he was killed before he could do the Great North Run or the Kielder Marathon, which is where his friend Daragh Burke has come in.
He's taken up his friend's mantle and this weekend will be running wearing Matthew's Parkinson's UK vest to make sure it crosses the finish line.
Speaking to LADbible fresh from a training run, Daragh explained he'd only had two weeks of practice to get ready for the 13.1 mile run but was determined to make sure he got his friend's vest over the line.
They'd first met when they were six and Daragh moved over from Ireland, saying Matthew was 'basically the first person I met at primary school' and they'd been friends ever since.
Daragh and Matthew had even both gone to the same university, Northumbria, and lived together while there, and they'd been godfathers to each other's sons, as the 37-year-od put it they were 'the closest you can be without being blood related'.
"I made sure I asked Sarah’s mum and dad first and they were just like in tears and they said that was such an amazing thing to do," Daragh explained of getting approval to wear the Parkinson's UK vest and finish the run for Matthew.
"Then I asked Sarah and she said the same thing."
Daragh said this was 'the first intensive amount of running I've done for a good few years', and while he is naturally sporty and reckons that with two weeks training he'll be able to do it as long as he can look after that ankle.
What time he finishes the Great North Run doesn't matter to him as long as he gets his friend's vest over the finish line, and he reckons Matthew 'would have liked to know that was getting done'.
He's hoping that Matthew's widow Sarah and her children will be able to make it along with her parents.
Their families are close and Daragh said his son got a card from Matthew for his christening with the words 'dream big, believe in yourself', saying those words were something his friend lived his life by.
The fundraiser for Matthew's runs is still up and you can donate to it here, it's already raised over £7,000 for Parkinson's UK and Daragh is hoping he can do more to raise that as he's encouraged people to put their money towards the fundraiser.
In the fundraiser Matthew had explained that his mother-in-law was diagnosed with Parkinson's last year and he was hoping with the fundraiser he'd 'become her favourite son-in-law'.
Daragh shared part of the eulogy he'd given at Matthew's funeral, where he praised his friend as he said: "From a very young age, Matty was someone people naturally wanted to be around.
"He was happy, sociable and full of energy, with a warmth about him that made friendships come easily."
In a tribute last month, Matthew's widow said: "He was loved beyond words by all his family and friends, and his loss has left a space that can never be filled."
A devoted Manchester United fan, last month the PC's two sons led the team out as mascots accompanied by Bruno Fernandes and Senne Lammens.
Topics: UK News
Joe Harker