Representing the Rams – Down Under!

Ted Allatt, who moved to Australia for work in February, has the debilitating chronic fatigue condition ME, which meant that for most of his teens he was unable to exercise and even missed school.

But after years of work building up his health, he is now a keen runner and was inspired to take part in the endurance event – wearing his beloved Dewsbury Rams shirt – by fundraiser Jane, who took part in a series of epic challenges while battling cancer.

Mr Allatt, 24, said: “I’d like to claim my training regime has been hard, but compared to efforts of Jane, a 10km run was a walk in the park. I have been training five days a week, watching what I eat and even giving up beer, not easy in Oz I can tell you.

“I desperately wanted to honour the memory of my teenage hero Jane by making the Leeds 10km my debut run. Unfortunately, the commute this year was a bit far, but with the Sydney Harbour race on the same day I figured I could run in support of Jane’s Appeal down under instead.”

Mr Allatt is still affected by ME every day, but was determined to take part in the run,

He added: “Fitness or health is no barrier to achieving – motivation is. From the dark teenage days of being in hospital, or only being able to go to school part time, I’ve wanted to improve my health. And very slowly over the past 13 years I have.

“My family have been wonderfully supportive, my sister Suze even got a retweet from Roger Ram!”