Eighties middle-distance icon is in remission for cancer but his boys Jamie and Matthew are doing 24-hour run to raise money to fight the disease

Jamie and Matthew Williamson are doing a 24-hour charity run on June 5-6 to raise money to give back to the cancer community after their father, Graham, fell ill with the disease.

A 3:34.01 1500m runner in the 1980s, Graham was diagnosed with stage four malignant melanoma in 2019 but is now in remission after successful treatment in Germany.

“We are organising a charity run in June where we will run a mile every hour on the hour for 24 hours (24 miles in 24 hours) in aid of Worldwide Cancer Research,” says Jamie, who himself has run 3:41.59 for 1500m. “We are aiming to raise €2400 to give back to the cancer community.

“Any donations would be greatly appreciated and would go a long way in helping the fight against cancer and continue saving and improving the lives of people with cancer and their families worldwide.”

Graham held the Scottish recored for the mile for 40 years with 3:50.64 set in Cork in 1982 but it has since been beaten by Josh Kerr, Neil Gourley and Jake Wightman in the past 18 months.

He also ran a world under-20 1500m record of 3:36.6 – a time that still stands as the UK under-20 record today – and won the World University Games title in addition to racing for Britain or Scotland at the 1983 World Champs, 1982 Europeans and 1982 Commonwealth Games, plus the world cross country championships.

He was beset with bad luck, though. At the European Championships in Athens, for example, he fell mid-race and his long-time rival Steve Cram burst clear in the melee to take gold.

Williamson also lost a run-off with Cram for the final place in the 1500m team for the 1980 Olympics after losing his spikes and kit at the airport.

Troubled with injuries, he retired at 26. He later went on to enjoy a successful career with adidas, though.

All the details are on the justgiving page are here.