Elisha Ran first as No 1 in 2012 (Well she walked through the arch and then sat down for a rest with Mum!)
The River Run 100 was started initially for the sole purpose of raising money and awareness for my Sister Elisha Neave in her fight against the raging BRCAII positive cancer disease that was killing her. It was a long shot and organised by a couple of decent guys and a girl and a few helpers that knew nothing about running, marathons or organizing events of this kind but they had a couple of ingredients that made the dish just right! They had a reason, a passion and a whole lot of faith & hope that when bundled together was a recipe of success. Let me introduce Denny (Elisha’s older brother (My brother) (Right in Yellow vest), Brendan -Elisha’s partner/soulmate – Left in Yellow Vest with Craig Mottram (olympic runner in black) presenting the first annual Elisha Neave Memorial Award to Rebecca Bell-Fuller of Hummingbird House
and Sharon (Denny’s partner and my sister in law!) pictured with Ronnie and I on the left and The EN Memorial Award below.
The first year there were 90 registered to run. After Elisha passed away on 30 April 2013 we thought about canning the whole thing but, the concept and the ability to help the wider community was so great, pushing aside their own own grief, they pushed on for another year and opened the event up to all runners/teams to run and raise money for their own charities. How, through love and compassion, this event has grown. Last year there was 450 registered to run and this year 660 registered to run. This year, we introduced the Elisha Neave Memorial Award trophy to be awarded on the day to the most compassionate, memorable and amazing story of love and compassion and growth. We were so happy that this first year it was awarded to “Rebecca Bell-Fuller of HUMMINGBIRD HOUSE Although the absence of my Mum, Sister and Dad were noticed, the continuing growth of new family with kids and grand kids abound kept the evolution of this life in perspective and smiles and laughter could be seen and heard throughout the day without us even realizing it! Little Eli (The newest member to our family (My grandson) and named after Elisha was definitely being passed around to enjoy!)
This event will continue to grow and I, along with my family, and those few who were there at the start, will be remember why we started, where it came from and enjoy how it grows… From little things, big things grow..