A CHARITY boss was greeted by two Saints legends as he neared the end of a 100 mile plus charity run.
James McLaughlin, the chief executive of Cure Leukaemia, was given a warm welcome to St Mary's Stadium by Matt Le Tissier and Franny Benali.
He had already visited colleagues at University Hospital Southampton during a 14 day running tour of 12 UK blood cancer centres the charity supports.
James, who was Head of Sales at Southampton Football Club between 1999 and 2003, raised an incredible £25,000 for Cure Leukaemia, topping the £20,000 boost on last year's 'Tour of the TAP'.
James successfully completed the challenge virtually over 28 days in 2020 but this year’s challenge saw him conquer all 112 miles in half the time! He visited Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Cardiff, Birmingham, Oxford, Southampton and London, running 14km around each of the centres to illustrate that a person in the UK is diagnosed every 14 minutes with Blood Cancer.
James was joined at various points of the challenge by staff members and charity supporters who embraced at times sub zero temperatures.
A total of 168 kilometres and £25,000 raised later, a proud James is able to put his feet up and return to his desk.
The TAP Centres, that Cure Leukaemia provides funding to, stands for Trials Acceleration Programme and consist of a network of specialist CL research nurses based in 12 of the UK’s biggest cities.
The CL Research Nurses across the UK allow these trials to run, giving patients from a catchment area of over 20 million people access to potentially life-saving treatments not currently available through standard care.
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