Students at St Mary’s Lend a Helping Hand at Richmond Half Marathon

Students at St Mary’s University, Twickenham recently supported the Richmond Half Marathon and 10k event by offering free sports massages at the finish line. A contingent of 11 students from St Mary’s BSc Sports Rehabilitation undergraduate course and Professional Short Course in Sports Massage attended the event on Sunday 23^rd March to give free post-event massages to runners finishing the two races. The Richmond Half Marathon, which started and finished in Old Deer Park in Richmond, raised £10,000 for local homeless charity SPEAR and is just one of the many events that is supported by University students throughout the year. St Mary’s has strong links with sports teams and events locally, nationally and internationally with students regularly volunteering their time to work with athletes and the local community to provide post-event sports massage. St Mary’s Sports Rehabilitation Programme Director Claire McLoughlin said, “Our students really enjoyed the event, despite the unpredictable weather. It was a great opportunity for their professional development, volunteering to support a local charity at a local event. We were really busy throughout the event and we hope to be back next year with even more volunteers.” The students will be back in action on 13^th April when they will support runners from 12 charities at the Virgin Money London Marathon. A total of 70 students will be at various locations across the capital to ease the pain of charity runners who will take on the challenge of running 26.2 miles.