Athanasia’s great race to beat breast cancer

8/25/2011 6:23 AM EST

Press Release
For immediate release: 25 August 2011

Budding runner Athanasia Nikolaidis from Scunthorpe has pulled on her running shoes to train for the Bupa Great North Run in aid of Breast Cancer Campaign.

28 year old Athanasia who teaches PE at Caistor Grammar School, will join 54,000 runners on the starting line for the 13.1 mile race in Newcastle on Sunday 18 September after someone close to her lost her battle with breast cancer.

Athanasia said: “My sister-in-law’s best friend died in April this year from breast cancer aged 41, she had a devoted husband and two children. I used to teach her children and my fiancé still teaches them at his school. She was a very brave and admirable woman, so I am running in memory of her.”

Athanasia is aiming to raise £400 or more for Campaign and is already well on her way to reaching her target. She said: “Friends, family and colleagues have been so supportive of my training and fundraising so far. I am really proud to run the Great North Run for Campaign as I know that every penny I raise will go towards helping the charity fund vital research into breast cancer.”

Athanasia has never run the Great North Run before but is excited about the big day. She said: “My training is going really well so far. I am running approximately four or five times a week, usually 10 miles each time. I’ve just returned from Spain and kept up with training while I was away, although it was a lot harder in the heat so I stuck to shorter runs and interval training!”

To help Athanasia reach her target please visit www.justgiving.com/Athanasia-Nikolaidis and donate what you can.

If you have your own place in the Great North Run and would like to join Athanasia on Campaign’s team, please call 0207 749 4114, email   or visit www.breastcancercampaign.org

ENDS

Notes to editors
• The Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank, the UK’s first ever national breast cancer tissue bank is a unique collaboration with four leading research institutions to create a vital resource of breast cancer tissue for researchers across the UK and Ireland. Visit breastcancertissuebank.org
• Breast Cancer Campaign aims to beat breast cancer by funding innovative world-class research to understand how breast cancer develops, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention and cure
• The charity currently funds 95 projects worth almost £16.5 million in 31 locations across the UK and Ireland
• Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women
• In the UK, around 48,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year - that’s 130 a day
• Visit breastcancercampaign.org or follow us at twitter.com/bccampaign