Widower gearing up for six running events in six months in cricket attire

A widower is to take on six running events across six months wearing cricket gear to show good can come “out of tragedy” after the death of his wife who had stage four bowel cancer.

Rich Williman’s wife Erika died in July 2022 at the age of 51 after 18 months with cancer.

Mr Williman, who is 56 and works with non-profit organisation the Education Alliance, said one of the toughest aspects of the diagnosis and his wife’s eventual death was telling the couple’s children, Seb, who is now 24, and Alex who is 16.

In a bid to make speaking about loss easier for others, he decided to raise money for the Ruth Strauss Foundation, a charity which provides emotional support to children who are going to lose a parent to cancer, by running 10km a day for 145 consecutive days in 2024.

This year, he has decided to be even more adventurous and aims to run six distance events over a six-month period from April to September, beginning with the London Marathon, all while wearing cricket gear including pads, a cap, gloves and cricket whites and carrying a bat.

“I’m a cricketer, I love cricket,” Mr Williman, who lives in Pocklington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, told the PA news agency.

“In addition to my training, I’ve also been on a park run in my kit so I know that I can sort of run in the gear, and people were really interested and asked me what I was doing.