Go Dad Run is a charitable project that was created in 2013 by former world champion athlete

Colin Jackson Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became wo ...

in order to raise awareness about men's health issues, especially

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

and funds for male health charities including

Prostate Cancer UK Prostate Cancer UK is a prostate cancer research, awareness and support organisation which is a registered charity in England and Wales, as well as in Scotland. History The organisation was founded in 1996 as The Prostate Cancer Charity by Prof ...

. It is a series of runs for men and boys that take place around the UK in June. They can run, walk, wheel or jog around the courses and raise money for the charity via sponsorship. Jackson founded it after two of his uncles developed prostate cancer and although one responded to treatment the other was less fortunate and died. That prompted him to find out more information about the illness and he was shocked to discover that whilst 1 in 8 men in the UK will develop

, that rises to 1 in 4 men from an African Caribbean background.

History

2013

The first ever Go Dad Run 5K for men and boys aged 16+ took place in

Llangefni Llangefni (meaning "church on the River Cefni", ) is the county town of Anglesey in Wales and contains the principal offices of the Isle of Anglesey County Council. United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded Llangefni's population as 5,116 people, mak ...

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a Local government in Wales, principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strai ...

on Father’s Day, 16 June 2013. The event started and finished at the Ysgol Gyfun school in the town and was organised by

Menter Môn is a social enterprise organisation, based in Anglesey (), Wales. It mainly operates in Anglesey and Gwynedd, although some of its programmes and funds extent to other parts of North Wales, north and west Wales. Menter Môn focuses on delivering ...

, the local enterprise agency.

, Mark Foster,

Jamie Baulch James Stephen Baulch (born 3 May 1973) is a retired Welsh sprint athlete and television presenter. He won the 400 metres gold medal at the 1999 World Indoor Championships. As a member of British 4 × 400 metres relay teams, he won a gold medal ...

and

Siân Lloyd Siân Mary Lloyd (born 3 July 1958) is a Welsh television presenter and meteorologist from Maesteg. She was the United Kingdom's longest-serving female weather forecaster, having appeared on ITV Weather for 24 years, from 1990 until 2014. Bi ...

were all there to lend support as more than 150 men and boys pulled on their yellow Y fronts and took part in the run around the town.

2014

In 2014 Go Dad Run welcomed a new headline sponsor as the Sanlam Go Dad Run expanded and staged three small events on Father’s Day weekend (14-15 June) in Crystal Palace Park in London, Bute Park in Cardiff and Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham. Boys aged 14+ joined their dads and the men on the courses. Mark Foster and

handed out the medals to the runners as they crossed the finish line in London.

Christian Malcolm Christian Sean Malcolm (born 3 June 1979) is a retired Welsh track and field athlete who specialised in the 200 metres. In 2020 he was appointed Head Coach of the British Athletics Olympic Programme. Early life Malcolm was born and was brought ...

and

Suzanne Packer Suzanne Packer (born Suzanne Jackson on 26 November 1962) is a Welsh actress, known for playing the role of Tess Bateman in the BBC medical drama '' Casualty'' from September 2003 to August 2015. She later returned to the series as a guest for ...

were their ambassadors in Cardiff and Colin also attended the Birmingham event where

Derek Redmond Derek Anthony Redmond (born 3 September 1965) is a retired British sprinter. During his career, he held the British record for the 400 metres sprint, and won gold medals in the 4x400 metres relay at the World Championships and European Champion ...

joined him to fire the starting gun.

2015

In 2015 Go Dad Run expanded to six events, changed the runner Y fronts from yellow to blue and reduced the age limit to 11+. Their main launch event was attended by

Elizabeth Emanuel Elizabeth Florence Emanuel (née Weiner, born 5 July 1953) is a British fashion designer who is best known for designing, with her former husband David Emanuel, the wedding dress worn by Lady Diana Spencer on her wedding to Prince Charles in ...

, Fernando Montano, and

David Seaman David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country's ...

alongside their ambassadors. Mark Foster set the runners on their way in Southwark Park, London and Greville Smyth Park, Bristol and

went to Llangefni to greet the men and boys before they ran around the town. At Worcester Racecourse he was joined by two other world champions,

and

Donovan Bailey Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to win the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He was the first Canadian ...

, and Colin's actress sister

was on hand in Victoria Park Warrington to start the event and present the medals. Their biggest run took place in Bute Park Cardiff where ambassadors

and

were joined by Welsh rugby legends

Martyn Williams Martyn Elwyn Williams, (born 1 September 1975) is a former Wales and British & Irish Lions international rugby union player. A flanker, he was Wales' most-capped forward with 100 caps until surpassed by Gethin Jenkins on 30 November 2013. H ...

and

Tom Shanklin Tomos George Llewellyn Shanklin (born 24 November 1979 in Harrow, London) is a former Welsh rugby union player who played outside centre for Cardiff Blues and Wales. He played club rugby for London Welsh and then Saracens, before joining C ...

2016

Six events were staged in June 2016 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

and the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

. A number of rule changes were introduced and there were 10K events at all locations, the 5K runs were opened to men and boys of any age and all aged 10+ were to be chip timed. The 2016 events were launched at the Grange, St Paul's Hotel in London when a number of prostate cancer survivors spoke, including Errol McKellar and Alfred Samuels, Sian Lloyd introduced the special Olympic Q&A with

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958), better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four tim ...

Leon Taylor Leon Taylor (born 2 November 1977) is a former British competitive diver. During his diving career he won medals at all major international events including a silver at the Athens Olympics. Following his retirement from competition, Taylor t ...

and

2017

In 2017 Go Dad Run changed its format and the runs will be staged in a different cities each month between April and October. The series will begin in Sunderland on 2 April and then move to London, Brighton & Hove, Worcester, Cardiff, Norwich and Bristol. The Lead Charity is

and the three new National Charity Partners are Bowel Cancer UK,

Orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

and

Campaign Against Living Miserably Campaign Against Living Miserably, or CALM, is a registered charity based in England. CALM run a free, confidential and anonymous helpline as well as a webchat service, offering help, advice and information to anyone who is struggling or in cri ...

(CALM). Each run also has a local care based or hospice charity partner.

References

Colin Jackson returns to Anglesey for Go Dad Run

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.godadrun.co.uk/ 2013 establishments in the United Kingdom Cancer awareness