Runners can put their best foot forward to help thousands of patients in Gloucestershire at a free community event in Cheltenham later this month.

Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity is taking over the Pittville Park parkrun on Saturday, November 27, and it is calling for people to come along and take part in aid of its CT Scanner Appeal.

The free 5km run is open to everyone, whether you are a keen runner or a beginner just starting out.

Volunteers from the charity will be marshalling at the event which starts at 9am and they will be collecting donations on the day. A special JustGiving link is also available to all runners to raise sponsorship in advance.

Keen runner and athletics coach Rob Grey has volunteered to be race director for the event. He has already completed more than 150 parkruns both in Gloucestershire and beyond.

"I first started doing the Cheltenham parkrun about six years ago and it is a really welcoming and social way to get some exercise," he said.

"We see around 400 runners taking part and there are always new people and beginners turning up every week. It doesn't matter how fast or how slow you are as everyone goes at their own pace."

As a seasoned parkrunner, he said the best advice for new participants was to take it steady.

"My advice would be don't start off too quick as you might tire after the first kilometre, know your limits and go at your own pace," he said. "Why not bring a friend with you who can help support you along the way?"

The charity needs to raise £600,000 to buy new state-of-the-art CT Gamma Scanner technology. This enables patients to have two specialist scans at the same time; an external CT (Computed Tomography) scan and a gamma scan from within the body, diagnosing conditions which otherwise cannot be found.

This new technology could help more than 4,000 patients every year in the county including seriously ill children, people with cancer and those with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's.

Head of fundraising Richard Smith said: "We are really grateful to Cheltenham parkrun for enabling us to take over their event later this month. It is a great opportunity for us to not only raise funds and awareness for the appeal but also to help promote the importance of health and wellbeing.

"If people cannot make this parkrun in person, they can of course take part in their own individual running challenge or go along to a different parkrun in the future and still raise funds for us, using the JustGiving link."

Anyone wishing to take part or who wants to run their own 5K fundraiser, can use the following JustGiving link https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/CTAppeal 

You can help support the appeal in other ways including:

• Donating directly online at www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/charity 
• Organising a fundraising event at your local school, work, gym or community group
• Making the appeal your company's charity of the year
• Supporting transformational projects in the hospitals through a gift in your will

Participants will need to register before coming along to the parkrun on November 27th. Please visit https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/ 

For more information on the parkrun, please go to https://www.parkrun.org.uk/cheltenham/course/