Charity says no

My mate’s running the London Marathon in a couple of weeks. He may enjoy pain, not sure. Either way he’d better get used to it, I hear he may experience some. I do a bit of running myself but I’m more 5K than 3 Shredded Wheat. Hopefully he’ll get a little boost thinking about some of the good he’s doing for charity.

That good won’t be for Cancer Research UK though, or at least not as part of their “flagship event” otherwise known as the Race for Life. Are you a man who would like to run for Cancer Research for someone you love, knowing that said charity are going to support you with the majority of their media presence? Well tough, ‘cause you can’t. If you’re a bloke you can volunteer and marshal but not, you know, actually be involved.

Maybe they’re keen on calling it their flagship campaign as “the UK’s largest women-only fundraising event” is a useful marketing hook. That’s probably why they’ve put “the UK’s largest women-only fundraising event” on their website, in fact. You can do one of their “Runs for Moore”, which are men only (and no-one’s heard of them), or you can run with anyone and everyone and do the Marathon. Or do a sponsored PS3-a-thon, less Vaseline needed for that one. Probably.