A group of fleet-footed females from a firm of chartered accountants are calculating how much they are likely to raise for a cancer charity.
The fab five, who all work for Coxey’s who have offices in Wrexham and Saltney, will be taking part in a big sponsored run early next month.
They are donning their running shoes to take part in the popular Wrexham Race for Life, which will see hundreds of pink-clad women dashing around a five kilometre course at Alyn Waters Country Park in Llay on Sunday, June 2.
It is one of a series of similar events held annually across the country to raise much-needed cash for the charity Cancer Research UK.
Spearheading Team Coxeys will be 31-year-old Helen Mort, of Wrexham ,who has worked at the firm for the past nine years and heads up their Business Essentials book-keeping business.
Joining her will be her deputy in the department, Susan Barkley, of Mold, who has been at Coxeys for five-and-a-half years, qualified accountants Rhian Williams, who has worked for the firm for nine years, and Ellen Plack, who has been at Coxeys for 15 months, along with accounts practitioner Janette Jones, who has been with the company for 16 months, from Wrexham.
All are Race for Life first timers, apart from Helen who is a veteran of two previous events in which she raised decent amounts for Cancer Research UK and Janette who has done the Alyn Waters event previously.
But, despite her previous experience, Helen admits that she comes to the June race with a little trepidation as on her last outing, the Flintshire 10K in 2011, she had to finish the event early after injuring her ankle.
She recalled: “I was about 3k into the race when I fell and hurt my ankle, which meant I had to give up early. It was very unfortunate, so I’m hoping this time I can last the course at Alyn Waters.
“The majority of the girls have never done Race for Life before but I took part in the 2007 event in Rhyl and the 2009 race in Chester. I’ll never forget that one because I went around the course wheeling a pram with my daughter Chloe.
“She is now five but was only a baby at the time. Even so, she had her own entry number which was stuck to the side of her pram.”
Helen added: “The five of us from Coxeys wanted to do the Race for Life next month because it is in aid of such a worthwhile charity.
“I think everyone knows someone whose life has been touched in some way by cancer and wants to do something to help.
“The thing with the Wrexham Race for Life is that it’s only 5k, which means it doesn’t need a really high level of fitness. You can choose to run or walk the course and I believe some women have even danced around it in the past.
“Our aim is complete the course, and with our combined ages totaling 200, I think it will be a combination of walking, jogging and dancing over the finish line.
“Although some of our ladies are into keeping fit, the other girls from Coxeys aren’t really runners so I think we’ll all be taking it pretty easy.
“Many people do it wearing fancy dress and we are still debating whether we should do that too. Whatever we wear, we’ll certainly all have something pink on, which is the tradition with Race for Life as it’s an all-girl event.
“It always has such a great fun atmosphere which isn’t too competitive. That’ll make a change from trying to train with my husband Michael who takes his running very seriously.
“He regularly takes part in marathons and has done the ones in London and Chicago. If he was in the Race for Life with us I just know he’d be there spurring us on but the girls and I will be much more relaxed about the whole thing.”
Team Coxeys is hoping that as many colleagues and clients as possible from the firm’s offices in Wrexham and River Lane, Saltney, will be sponsoring their Race for Life entry.