Glasgow’s biggest sponsored walk returns in August

Among those taking part is a family from Renfrewshire who’ve completed the ‘Off the Beatson Track’ event for eight years in a row, in memory of their dad who passed away after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

44-year-old Felicity Gillespie and her family have taken part every year after her dad, Brian McLaughlin, sadly died in 2015 aged 70.

On Brian’s 70th birthday he asked for the family to take part in the first Off the Beatson Track event in 2014, which he also completed.

The family raised over £10,000 in the first year and have since raised over £34,000.

Around 30 family members from Paisley, Johnstone, Blantyre and Hamilton will be taking part this year.

The 10k walk has seen over 11,000 participants walk over 70,000 miles over the years – making it Glasgow’s biggest sponsored walk.

It’s been a virtual walk for the last two years but is back as a live event on Sunday, August 28, which STV’s Laura Boyd and BBC’s David Farrell will be hosting.

Felicity, from Brookfield, Johnstone, said: “Back in 2014 our dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and one of his wishes was that we take part in the walk just to give back to The Beatson for the care that he received during his treatment and right up until his end of life.

“Giving back and giving your time to charity is really rewarding as well, so it makes you feel really good and hopefully it makes our dad proud that we’re doing that and continue to do it to this day as a family.

“I just love leading up to it and spending time as a family and raising funds for the Beatson because they really did do a wonderful job looking after our dad and caring for him and gave us extra time with him.”

Those taking part in the event will be given a free Off the Beatson Track t-shirt after signing up, and a medal at the end for completing it too.

The event will start at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow and go past the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre on Great Western Road, via Kelvingrove Museum and back to the Riverside Museum to finish.

Maisie McCormick, community fundraising manager at Beatson Cancer Charity, said: “We’re delighted to finally be able to host our first live Off the Beatson Track event since 2019.

“We’re so grateful to everyone who took part in the virtual walks over the last two years, but we can’t wait to see a sea of yellow take to the streets of Glasgow once again.

“Every single person who signs up is allowing us to support more cancer patients and their families over the years to come, and we cannot thank you enough for that.”

Find out more on the Beatson Cancer Charity website.