in the news
from August 2008

Huddersfield police officer Mark Carter tackled a half-marathon to raise awareness of bone marrow donation.

Carter, 25, ran from Bradford police HQ to the site of Huddersfield’s biggest gay pride event, The Pink Picnic.

The former Mr Gay UK, who won in 2006 and who works at Huddersfield police station, ran in support of The Huddersfield Examiner’s ‘Sign Up For Sudders’ campaign, which aims to recruit more bone marrow donors. It is being fronted by 26-year-old Examiner journalist Adrian Sudbury, who is dying from the leukaemia he has battled for 18 months.

Sudbury wants the government to make it compulsory for 17- and 18-year-olds to be educated about blood, bone marrow and organ donation as standard.

Carter said: ‘I am fully behind Adrian’s campaign and would like to do this run in support of it.’

Carter first pledged his support for the campaign to help highlight the fact that gay men are now allowed to sign up to the bone marrow register with the Anthony Nolan Trust, a charity which runs one of the UK’s two registers.

The other is kept by the National Blood Service, but as yet gay men are not allowed on to this register as they are deemed to be at higher risk of carrying blood-borne diseases.

Carter will split the proceeds of his run between the Anthony Nolan Trust and The Brunswick Centre, a charity which supports gay men in Kirklees and Calderdale.

‘I have spent the past two years concentrating on muscle building in an effort to bulk up for the Mr Gay UK contests and modelling work. My days of running seem very distant. I have never attempted to run a distance like this. It’s going to be very painful.’

To show your support, you can send a cheque made payable to Sign Up For Sudders to Katie Campling, Huddersfield Examiner, Queen Street South, HD1 3DU. Soon you will also be able to donate at any branch of Barclays bank in the Huddersfield and Halifax area.

You can also support mark by joining his Facebook site by visiting www.facebook.com and searching for ‘Mark’s Bradford to Huddersfield Run’.