Sunday 23 rd October was a very busy day for staff and cadets from 485 ( Harborne and Quinton) Sqn ATC. The sqn had been invited by BUPA to help hand out water at the Great Birmingham Half Marathon.

A total of 15 cadets had a very early start on the Sunday morning, whilst most people were still in bed; the cadets were standing inside the National Indoor Arena in the city centre at 0730! Each cadet was given a free BUPA running jacket and they also picked up a packed lunch.

A total of 15000 runners soon started to arrive for the race and the cadets watched on as they were put into different starting “pens”. Once all the runners had gone through the start line, a process which took over an hour, the cadets made their way to the finish area where they manned a “water” area.

The runners soon started to come pass the area, the elite runners taking not much over 60 minutes to run the distance! Each one of the runners had their first names printed on to their running number and the cadets were soon shouting out individual names and giving them water, something that put a smile on to very tired faces!

Flt Lt Simon Jennings commented “I would like to pass on a massive thank you to all the cadets who attended on the day. They all worked extremely hard and the teamwork was fantastic. I know that the organisers were extremely happy with the cadet's efforts, particularly in relation to the number of bottles of water which were handed out! The Sqn is set to receive nearly £300 for the cadet's efforts as we have been guaranteed a sum of money per cadet for attending on the day. An excellent, if tiring day, for all.”