"Cure Leukaemia’s funding of the UK Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) is a game-changer and increases the access for blood cancer patients to potentially transformative new therapies."
Sir John Bell
The 2021 "Tour of the TAP" Tops £25,000 Target
2nd December 2021
12 legs, 11 cities, 168 kilometres and £25,000 raised – the whirlwind 2021 Tour of the Tap has been completed by Chief Executive James McLaughlin, following the culmination of two 14km legs in London on Wednesday.
The figures tops the £20,000 raised from last year’s virtual challenge, but 2021 saw the bar raised!
Taking in all 12 TAP Centres that Cure Leukaemia funds, James set himself the challenge of running 14km around each of the Centres within 14 days.
The TAP Centres, that Cure Leukaemia provides funding to, stands for Trials Acceleration Programme and consists of a network of specialist CL research nurses based in 12 of the UK’s biggest cities and a facilitatory Hub at the Centre for Clinical Haematology (CCH) in Birmingham. Cure Leukaemia made a 3-year £3,000,000 commitment to funding in January 2020, to enable the accelerated setup and delivery of pioneering and potentially life-saving blood cancer clinical trials.
The challenge began in Northern Ireland on Wednesday 17th November at the Belfast City Hospital before working our way across the country, taking in Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Cardiff, Birmingham, Oxford and Southampton, before a gruelling 28km in London.
This year’s “Tour of the Tap” held a very personal meaning for James however, as he announced that he would be completing the challenge in memory and honour of a dear friend to Cure Leukaemia, who sadly passed away in September this year – ITV’s Geoff Hill.
There were emotional scenes at the finish line at King’s College Hospital as Geoff’s family met James at the venue where Geoff was treated throughout his battle with leukaemia.
Speaking about the challenge, James was delighted to pass the £25,000 target just minutes after passing the finish line:
“It was an overwhelming feeling completing the challenge at King’s College Hospital and to reach the fundraising target so soon after was just fantastic. To see Geoff’s family as I crossed the finish line was truly humbling and emotional.”
“The last 14 days have been a bit of whirlwind, but it has been great to travel to each of our 12 TAP Centres to meet with all of the amazing clinical teams that continue to astonish me on a daily basis with the work that they do.”
“At one stage I was starting to worry that we weren’t going to hit our total, but an incredible last day saw over £8,000 raised by our dedicated CL family and I couldn’t be prouder!”