A proud dad who runs an award-winning community running group has praised his daughter ahead of her first half marathon.
Natalya Nevin will take on the Great Manchester Run this Sunday (May 18) to raise money for a very good cause.
This is Natalya's first half marathon after starting from scratch in the programme run by her dad Stuart, at Morecambe Community Runners (MCR).
MCR is a fully inclusive running group in the community for all ages and abilities, running beginners' Couch to 5K programmes.
MCR has already helped hundreds of people, who thought they'd never be able to run, to achieve their goals. Some have gone on to run marathons and even further distances.
"For the past five months our newest run leader and my eldest daughter has been busy training hard to prepare for this," said Stuart.
"This is her first half marathon and she has gone from starting our Couch to 25k programme to run leader, to now inspiring and leading others in action and to new people in our community sessions.
"It’s my amazing good fortune to have her as my daughter and I will be also running with her on Sunday.
"She is an amazing young woman, kind considerate, good friend to all, full-time mum, partner, daughter, sister and also works for Genix health care in Morecambe as a treatment co-ordinator, but always finds the time to help others and be an inspiration."
Natalya is running to raise money for Operation Smile, which provides free cleft surgeries for children around the globe.
Her fundraising page has raised more than £1120 to date.
Natalya said: "It is easy to take for granted the surgical care we have available. But for too many people safe surgery is not an option.
"Children born with cleft lip and palate in the developing world cannot access the surgery they desperately need for a healthy, happy future. Instead they face difficulty breathing, eating and speaking and are left to live in social isolation due to the stigma surrounding their condition.
"As a parent I can't imagine how difficult it must be to watch your child suffer from a condition that could be so simply fixed with a small surgical procedure.
"So I'm going to be putting my running shoes on, and training my novice legs to run 13.1 miles to raise money for this incredible charity!
"Cleft surgery costs as little as £150 and takes just 45 minutes to provide this life-changing surgery.
"Thank you for helping me raise smiles!"
You can donate HERE.
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