Matharu and Grubb Lead Leeds 10k Fundraising Drive

Thousands are set to take part in the leeds 10k later today, with the race starting at 09:00 BST at the University of Leeds and finishing in the city centre. For some runners, the route is about more than a finish time: Jasmin Matharu is running to raise money for treatment for her son in the US.

Jasmin Matharu’s £200,000 target

Matharu hopes to raise £200,000 for treatment at Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago for her son, who has TUBB4A-related leukodystrophy. The family will have to relocate to Chicago for the treatment programme, and she said the cause “means everything”.

Her son was diagnosed eight months after he was born, and Matharu said her “world stopped” when she heard the news. She added that she “does not know” what the future holds, but said she is running to keep “putting her best foot forward”.

Clair Grubb and the Leeds 10K

Clair Grubb brings a different kind of pressure to the same start line. She has lived with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis for 17 years, took up running last year, and said she woke up one day last May determined to get fitter.

Grubb said the main effects of MS are fatigue and, at times, a sensation like an electric shock running through her body. Her husband Chris said she “refuses to let MS define her” and praised her “courage, grace, and determination”.

He added: “People will see someone crossing a finish line by what I see as 17 years of resilience crossing it with her.” That line fits the race’s bigger purpose as well: the Leeds 10K was set up by the Jane Tomlinson Appeal 15 years ago, after Jane Tomlinson died of cancer in 2007 at 43, and it has become one of Leeds’s biggest fundraising opportunities.

For runners in this year’s field, the practical next step is simple: the course starts at the University of Leeds and ends in the city centre, with the fundraising focus set long before the first finisher arrives.