Geraint John and Elis James join forces for a half-time race across the football pitch, raising over £6,000
At half-time at Dulwich Hamlet’s Champion Hill ground during the 3-1 victory over Chichester City, two men in their 40s, dressed in replica kits of their boyhood and rival teams Cardiff City and Swansea City, lined up for the race of their lives in front of the 3,000 crowd.
Geraint John, lifelong Cardiff fan, up against Swansea diehard, comedian, actor and radio presenter Elis James. It’s a simple a 100 meter dash from one end of the pitch to the other.
Their goal? Bragging rights, for sure. More importantly (although it’s fair to say they both took it very seriously) was to raise as much as possible for St Christopher’s where Geraint’s wife Debs died in September 2022 of pancreatic cancer, aged 43.
The rival runners, now near neighbours in Dulwich, were acquaintances in South Wales back in the Noughties. Then, more recently Elis contacted Geraint suggesting they went for a pint, having read the latter’s much-viewed Twitter posts about death, dying and grief and the two are now close friends.
“Elis sent me a video of him winning the parents’ race at his kid’s school and being competitive I said I could definitely beat him,” says Geraint.
“Debs had said she wanted us to do something to support St Christopher’s and this just seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
The ‘us’, Geraint refers to, are him and their three kids, Noah, Enfys and Seren.
It’s because St Christopher’s made an unbelievably difficult time as good as it possibly could be for the whole family that Geraint wanted not only to raise some serious money, but also to encourage more people, especially middle-aged men, to talk about death and dying.
“When you really love someone, that love has no boundary and they are so unwell it’s a big ask to put them in the hands of someone you don’t know and have never met. But I felt when we handed Debs over to St Christopher’s it just made the last 14 days of her life really meaningful.
“She got to see the sun, to smile and spend time with us while being respected and cared for. It made a very bad situation one that I can look back on without being horrified and I can talk about it.
“From the people on reception, to the lovely folk in the café and in the garden, everyone helped make such a difference to the point where I can say, thank God it was St Christopher’s. We were all there, which was beautiful.”
“I’m quite self-aware, but for all those men of my sort of age who find themselves in this situation I just hope they’ll read this or see me and find it relatable, address their fears and talk about it.”
It’s fair to say neither Geraint nor Debs were 100% convinced when it was suggested she move there from King’s College Hospital.
“I didn’t know anyone who’d had cancer let alone what a hospice was. So, I went to go and check it out before Debs came here. I came to reception; told them my wife was about to come in and that I wanted to have a look around! Then she came and she was so happy to be there. It just felt normal and familiar to Debs after six hectic weeks in hospital.
“We had some lovely moments in the garden where we had some important chats and I could just see how she felt comforted there.”
On Saturday 28 February, friendship went out of the window, as Geraint, AKA Baz, after Welsh 1970s rugby wizard Barry John, took on sports day champion Elis and they stepped out of their comfort zone, for those all-important bragging rights. If you’d like to find out who won the race, you can watch the video below.
For those still reading, let’s put it this way, Geraint is very close to achieving one of his goals and with a bit of help from readers of this article can get over the fundraising line.
If you’d like to support Geraint visit https://gofund.me/ba9904932.
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