Latest / The PCR Sports Show / The PCR Sports Show - Friday 24th October 2025 - with Jake Burton from Runs4Research.

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The PCR Sports Show - Friday 24th October 2025 - with Jake Burton from Runs4Research. · The PCR Sports Show

0:00
Good evening and welcome to the PCR Sports Show here on PCR FM
0:04
for the start of your sporting weekend.
0:07
I'm Neil Eshen in the studio. This week we've got with us Jake
0:10
Burton, founder of Runs for Research and Scott King from the
0:15
Alzheimer's Research UK charity. And we'll be hearing all about
0:19
Runs for Research this evening and the support that that's
0:23
providing AIUK with their work that they do.
0:27
But first, as always, let's cover off your local sporting
0:31
headlines this week with Nigel Cole.
0:33
Yeah, good evening. Manager Phil Brown said he was
0:36
disappointed with his own substitutions which he felt
0:39
handed some impetus to the opposition during the 21 defeat
0:43
on Tuesday evening. Buxton were the visitors to
0:46
Pymm's Park in an entertaining game which ended in the visitors
0:49
scoring a last minute free kick to take all three points.
0:53
Brown said that even though captain Dan Jarvis was tiring,
0:57
taking him off the field meant that sports lost a bit of nouse
1:00
needed to get over the line. The defeat followed a hard
1:04
fought point last Saturday against a very negative Alfred
1:07
inside. The team travelled to Manchester
1:10
tomorrow for a tough looking encounter with Kurz and Ashton.
1:14
Charlie Hickenbottom didn't train yesterday after being
1:16
taken off on Tuesday with a hamstring injury.
1:19
The better news, however, is that Mustafa Carriol, who also
1:23
took a knock against Buxton, came through training OK and is
1:26
available for selection tomorrow, as is Mark Jones who
1:30
also came through training and is also available to return to
1:34
the team. Sports the bottom of the table.
1:37
4 points from safety. No gaming win midweek for Darren
1:41
Ferguson's member. They returned to action
1:43
following their one nil win at Burton last weekend with a home
1:46
fixture against Blackpool. A win for Posh could see them
1:49
move out to the bottom 4 ahead of their Emirates FA Cup tie
1:54
with Cardiff the following weekend.
1:56
Posh without the services of defenders Sam Hughes, Rio
2:00
Adebisi and Jacob Mendi, with the online Wrexham man set to
2:04
undergo a scan to reveal the extent of the damage to his
2:07
groin. Kieran Haynes is also
2:09
unavailable due to injury, while centre back Tom Lees is
2:13
suspended. Ferguson says he expects
2:15
Blackpool to play a different formation for tomorrow after
2:19
their recent change of manager, but the focus must be on his
2:22
team affecting the game and improving their attacking
2:25
intent. The game at the Western Home
2:27
Stadium kicks off at 3:00 PM. Posh ladies have a seismic week
2:32
ahead of start Ahead Sorry, starting with an FA Cup first
2:36
round, a tie against a high level Rael Bedford at Pyms Park
2:40
on Sunday. Posh lost in the League Cup
2:43
earlier in the season to the same opponents, so they'll be
2:46
eager for revenge on Sunday. Revenge is also on the cards
2:50
next Thursday as Posh ladies travel to Northampton to take on
2:54
the Cobblers in National Division One.
2:57
Posh lost to Northampton twice last season so Jake Paul will be
3:01
keen to come back with all three points this time.
3:04
Posh then host host Boldmere St. Michaels on the Sunday the 2nd
3:08
of November, again at Pyms Park. Both teams currently boast a
3:12
perfect league record with five wins from five games, so the
3:16
game is eagerly awaited, but Paul said his attention for the
3:19
moment is on beat in Bedford on Sunday.
3:23
Gymnastics and Gunthorpe gymnast Jake Jarman has won his Second
3:27
World gymnastics gold medal in the floor competition in
3:30
Jakarta, Indonesia. His team mate Luke Whitehouse
3:34
made it a GB 1-2 after he also claimed the silver.
3:39
Jarman, who took the bronze medal in the floor event at the
3:41
2024 Paris Olympics, finished top with a score of 14.866.
3:47
Whitehouse scored 14.666 to secure his first medal at a
3:52
World Championships. Peterborough Phantoms rescued
3:56
their National League weekend with a superb comeback success
3:59
against the Solway Sharks at Planet Ice on Sunday.
4:03
It looked like being a pointless couple of days for the City
4:05
skaters as they followed A51 defeat at leaders Swindon
4:09
Wildcats on Saturday by falling 41 down midway through the match
4:14
home to the side next to bottom in the table the following
4:17
night. But Phantoms rallied to level at
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4/4 and again hit back to get to 5 five before claiming victory
4:24
in a penalty shootout as netminder Hayden Levine stood
4:28
tall to save all three Subway efforts.
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There were other heroes as well. Cam Howe hit a hat trick and
4:35
Janai Larkinen assisted on every single Phantoms goal.
4:38
Ashley Tate's side remained 4th in the table with six wins in
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nine matches ahead of games this week Weekend at bottom club
4:46
Basingstoke. That's Saturday, 6:30 face off
4:50
and at home to Romford Raiders on Sunday, which starts at 5:30
4:55
PM. The city of Peterborough
4:57
suffered late National League hockey heartbreak on Sunday.
5:01
The City side LED 21 at Midlands Conference leaders Leak with
5:04
just 4 minutes to go. That ended up on the wrong end
5:07
of A32 score line, with the winning goal arriving from a
5:10
penalty corner taken after the final whistle had blown.
5:14
All five goals in the game were scored from penalty corners.
5:19
There's no stop in the City of Peter and Ladies, however, in
5:21
East Division 1 N they remain top of the table with four wins
5:25
and a draw from five games after a 5 nil success.
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And neighbors Wisbech City have scored a credible 20 goals from
5:33
those five games running and Noah Randall finished third in
5:37
the Certain Beast 10K in a time of 38.32.
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As well as being in the medals, Randall was the leader at the
5:45
under 18 level. Rebecca Clough was the winner of
5:48
the Under 18 girls, meaning pan back athletes picked up both
5:52
under 18 awards. Clough's parents were also in
5:56
both. In action, Elizabeth Senec
5:59
Clough was the third lady and first over 50 home and dad Tim
6:04
crossed the line in a time of 48.37.
6:08
Meanwhile, Wittering base Steve Robinson battled his way through
6:12
York and the nearby village of Stamford Bridge to clock a time
6:15
of two hours, 51 minutes and 45 seconds and finished 110th in
6:20
Sunday's Yorkshire Marathon. And those are your headlines.
6:25
Brilliant. Thank you very much Nigel.
6:26
Plenty going on once again and great to see many of our
6:29
sporting clubs and athletes travelling further afield to ply
6:33
their trade. Indeed, Yeah, It's great to see
6:36
some of the city clubs playing at a high level this year.
6:38
You know, the men's hockey playing in the National League.
6:41
It's it's just good to see. Great for the city isn't?
6:43
It definitely is, right. Thank you very much, Nigel.
6:46
Those were your supporting headlines this week on the PCR
6:48
Sports Show, right? We're going to go to a short
6:50
break, but we'll be back with Jake and Scott very shortly and
6:55
we'll be talking all about runs for research.
7:00
Good evening. Welcome back to the PCR Sports
7:02
Show here on PCR FM. We're here every Friday between
7:05
6:00 and 7:00 bringing you the latest from the local sporting
7:09
scene of our city of Peterborough.
7:12
Tonight is no different. We're going to be talking to
7:14
Jake Burton, founder of runs of her Research.
7:17
And also joining him in the studio this evening is Scott
7:20
King from the Alzheimer's Research UK charity, who are the
7:25
beneficiaries of Jake's initiative, which he initially
7:27
set up back in 2021. Jake, welcome back to the
7:32
studios. Thanks Celestia, It's great to
7:34
be back. You're with us what, back in
7:36
January, I think mid January, just for our listeners who may
7:40
not have been listening at that time or who haven't heard of
7:43
runs for research, just give us a little bit of a background as
7:45
to what it is and how it became to be as it is today.
7:51
Absolutely. So Runs for Research is an
7:53
initiative supporting Alzheimer's Research UK through
7:57
club cricketers like myself contributing a donation based on
8:01
their performances. So the runs they score, the
8:04
wickets they take all get toted up and they make a donation to
8:08
the charity of our Just Given page at the end of the season.
8:11
OK. How did that come about?
8:14
What was your driving force behind it?
8:16
So at the back end of 2020 I lost my granddad after a recent
8:22
reasonably long illness. At the end of his life he
8:25
suffered a little bit with with Alzheimer's.
8:27
So kind of early part of 2021, I wanted to to kind of honour him
8:34
through whatever means kind of necessary, came up with a run
8:38
for research concept and then thought we could we could
8:42
support a charity for this. And because of the dementia
8:45
link, Alzheimer's Research UK felt the felt the the best
8:48
solution for. That yeah, cricket's certainly
8:51
in your blood. Then you're playing, your
8:53
granddad played. Yeah, absolutely.
8:55
Yeah. Grand Granddad played, Dad took
8:57
on the the mantle thereafter. We grew up around the Cricket
9:01
Club, so myself and my sister both both then kind of followed
9:05
suit and I've been playing ever since.
9:08
So that's that's three generations well involved in the
9:10
game, so. You've certainly got a passion
9:12
for the sport and to be able to combine that with the good that
9:15
you're doing now in memory of your granddad.
9:17
Exactly. I think it it, it keeps that
9:19
passion there to a certain extent, even if my own personal
9:22
cricket performances aren't aren't there.
9:25
I know that it's meaning something nonetheless, that that
9:28
wiki that I take that run, I score, it's still contributing
9:30
to the to the cause, and I hope others across the country feel
9:33
the same. Yeah, we'll talk about it in
9:35
detail and the progress that you've made with runs for
9:38
research over the last, what, five seasons Now I make it
9:42
culminating you raised over 55,000 lbs so far, but did you
9:46
envisage you'd get to this point when you first set out on this
9:50
initiative? Absolutely not.
9:52
I think in the first year the the plan was to raise £1000,
9:54
maybe it would be a one year and and done initiative using some,
9:58
some contacts that I'd built. But after a really successful
10:01
first year, people said, oh, you're going to carry on this
10:04
next year. And I said, well, why, why not?
10:07
And as we say, here we are after just finishing our fifth season
10:10
raising amount, amount of money that that kind of baffles me
10:13
every time I hear it, especially from other people.
10:15
That must be very heartwarming in terms of the networks that
10:19
you've been able to build up the the work that the money can help
10:24
to provide. Absolutely, absolutely.
10:26
I think it's, it's a, it's a condition and a disease that
10:29
affects so many people. That feeling as if we're we're
10:33
playing a small part in, in hopefully getting rid of it down
10:35
the line. Again, the the research
10:38
elements. I will admit that it's not my
10:41
area of expertise and and ultimately that's, that's the
10:43
guys over at our UK that that, that want to make sure it it
10:47
ends up in the right, the right locations ultimately to to do
10:50
exactly as we hoped. Yeah.
10:51
So runs for research then. What are the sort of parameters
10:57
that you play with during the course of the season then?
10:59
So a player signs up to commit to that donation once their
11:03
season finishes. So for every run they score in
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in their own game. So that's their their club
11:08
cricket, they contribute 5P and for every wicket they take they
11:11
contribute 50P. So it doesn't sound like a lot,
11:14
but over the course of a season all those those numbers might
11:17
add up to a donation around about £20.
11:20
And ultimately you might choose to to make a 20 LB donation to a
11:23
IUK off your own back. But we felt that donating an
11:26
amount that was personal to you, that amount might be £19.85, but
11:31
that £19.85 you have contributed to, you have calculated you've,
11:34
you've scored the runs and taken the wickets towards it.
11:37
So therefore that feels a little bit more personal than just a
11:40
generic 20 LB donation. And it's, yeah, it's, it's quite
11:44
a simple concept, but it's certainly been taken, taken by
11:47
the cricket community and and exploded ultimately to where we
11:50
are. Yeah, and we'll come on to that,
11:51
how it has exploded effectively in the five seasons that it's
11:53
been running now and the the national scale of the the work
11:58
that you're doing with runs for research as well.
12:00
But I'll just bring Scott in here from Alzheimer's Research
12:03
UK. Scott, I mean, you're hearing
12:05
about this initiative that Jake set up in memory of his
12:08
granddad. I mean, again, that must be
12:10
heartwarming to hear that that support is out there in the
12:13
community. It was such an awful disease.
12:16
It's so good. It's, you know, I'm very lucky
12:19
as a, as a fundraising officer for Alzheimer's Research UK to
12:23
work with excellent supporters like Jake every single day.
12:27
I mean, it's unfortunate. The truth is that one in two
12:31
people will either have dementia or know someone who does.
12:36
And it's a terribly cruel condition to have.
12:41
And so a lot of people, you know, it affects their lives and
12:44
and they want to make sure that the generations to come, you
12:48
know, don't have to go through what they went through.
12:50
You know, Jake obviously had this great relationship with his
12:54
grandfather and doesn't want, you know, people down the line
12:58
to have to go through what he did and, and to, to link it
13:02
through to a a great hobby of his as well is just, you know,
13:05
icing on the cake. You know, I see people all the
13:09
time who want to run or walk or something like that for, for
13:14
charity for us. But to have a really great,
13:16
unique initiative like this, it's, it's really special.
13:19
So, you know, everyone at the charity is really appreciative
13:22
of everything Jake has done and you know, we're excited to
13:26
continue working with him, you know, no signs of stopping yet.
13:29
No, it certainly sounds like there's plenty more runs and
13:32
wickets to be taken, Jake. Absolutely, absolutely.
13:35
As, as, as we say it's, it's something that can keep going
13:37
year on year and it keeps growing from strength to
13:40
strength. Yeah, let's go back to sort of
13:43
20/20/21 then when you came up with this idea, fledgling idea,
13:49
how did you get it off the ground?
13:51
I think I initially kind of thought about the concept, spoke
13:54
to a few people kind of in my inner circle, just just friends
13:58
and said, look, I'm thinking about doing this.
14:00
What do you think? And it was, it was a long
14:02
written message thinking that it might be a, I'm not sure.
14:06
But all five of them said, no, that's a really good idea and we
14:09
can get behind it. So then kind of within a couple
14:12
of days of that, I thought like, I'll reach out to the, the
14:14
appropriate people I, I spoke to, to, to AI UK directly
14:17
through, through e-mail and said, look, I've got this idea.
14:19
Is there anything you need from me?
14:20
And they said, no, it's more what do you need from us more
14:24
more than anything. Exactly.
14:25
Yeah, we're, we're there to support you through everything
14:27
you do from, you know, sending you a lovely orange shirt, which
14:31
make sure you get notice while you're doing it to, you know,
14:34
organising, you know, things like this.
14:36
It's, you know, we're here to make sure that, you know, your
14:40
fundraising efforts, That's all you need to focus on.
14:42
We, we're doing everything else that we can around it to make
14:45
sure that it's as easy as, as, as you can, because often times
14:49
these challenges are challenges, you know, and.
14:52
In their own right and if you can allow Jake and his team to
14:55
get on with doing the fundraising, you're there as.
14:57
That's the, that's the big thing that that has helped, not, not
15:00
helped in, in that way, but because of the, the way the
15:03
initiative runs, it doesn't need much management from a IUKS
15:06
perspective. They're there to support me and
15:08
they're always on the end of the phone if I ever need any
15:10
assistance. But actually it manages itself.
15:12
And ultimately they're just giving pages linked directly to
15:15
them. The money's ending up with, with
15:16
them in the right locations and, and that's all that matters
15:19
really. But but I can't can't thank them
15:21
for their support enough. Yeah, so early season text
15:25
message went out to a few friends, he got their buy in
15:28
effectively and they thought, yeah, this is a good idea, next
15:32
steps. How did that evolve from there?
15:34
I think once, once we'd got an idea that this was going to
15:37
work, you, you then hope that they would buy it.
15:42
It's all a good saying at the end of the message.
15:43
Yeah, I'll do this. But but until that sign up form
15:46
went live on in mid March 2021 and people started completing
15:50
it, you, you weren't 100% certain.
15:54
In that first year, I was still thinking it was going to be
15:57
people that I played with, people I played against, people
15:59
that that respected me, I suppose, and they were doing it
16:02
to support me. But actually the power of social
16:06
media means it gets out there into the wider sphere.
16:08
Somebody picks it up. And actually in that first year,
16:12
the, the, the proud moments would get an assignment from
16:14
somebody that I didn't know because it meant that it'd gone
16:16
in front of them and that they bought into the idea not knowing
16:19
me. So that in that first year, as I
16:23
say, we, we kind of expected that we'd maybe get 100 players.
16:27
We ended up with 250. And I suspect a large chunk of
16:30
those, way more than 50%, if not 75% were from people that, that
16:34
I didn't know, that I hadn't come across.
16:36
And they were just wanted to support the cause because they
16:38
bought into the idea. And in that first year alone,
16:41
just short of 6000 lbs was raised beyond your wildest
16:44
imaginations, I guess. Yeah, 1000 LB maybe would have
16:47
been the the target, as I say, as a as a one and done, but but
16:51
raising 6000 and then kind of in the back half of the year
16:54
getting lots of messages. I've only just seen this really
16:56
keen to get involved in in 2022 as it was.
17:00
So that kind of prompted me to say, well, OK, this is a, this
17:02
is a good idea. We can, we can keep going with
17:04
this. And we've we've then grown
17:07
double. We doubled in 2022 and and and
17:09
then further thereafter. So year one, 257 club cricketers
17:14
you sent me in crossing your notes, donating just short of
17:17
6000 lbs. Did you take a breather after
17:22
you? I didn't think that's it.
17:24
Or did you think actually there's want to do this again?
17:27
I think it was very much because of those messages and and
17:30
people's enjoyment of, of being involved, kind of adding that
17:34
value to their runs and wickets. They felt that they wanted to
17:37
carry on and, and we said, well, absolutely, why not?
17:41
Let's let's go again. You do have to take a breather
17:43
and and stop and think of what you've actually achieved here
17:46
from a from a fledgling idea to to 6000 lbs raised for a charity
17:50
in in six months as it probably was probably just over.
17:54
It's it's pretty remarkable thinking about it now, I suppose
17:58
even more remarkable to think where we are today.
18:00
Indeed, indeed. And we'll, we'll certainly come
18:03
on to that as well in terms of where we are after five years.
18:05
But Year 2 then 533 players raising more than £11,000 in the
18:12
second year. I think when it got to that
18:15
number after the second year, I thought, what have I created
18:19
here? Because this is, this is more
18:21
than this is more than a side hustle hobby.
18:24
This is a commitment. Because when people are signing
18:28
up, we, we pride ourselves on saying that sign up and that's
18:31
all you need to do. But that all, all that we need
18:34
to do is a lot, 500 players to maintain the the the runs and
18:39
wickets because it's all, it's all maintained by us, the
18:41
players. The players do the donate, the
18:44
players are committed to the donation.
18:45
They're the one doing the sign up.
18:46
But everything else is managed by by us.
18:49
People always laugh when they say by us when the route is it's
18:52
me. But yeah, so when we got to that
18:57
level of players, it's like this is not sustainable.
18:59
And that's when there were kind of doubts.
19:03
To a certain extent you have to consider is this, is this
19:05
scalable? Is this something that if this
19:07
number goes again, if it double S again, we're talking thousand
19:11
players? That's not sustainable for me to
19:14
do as a part time hustle on a Monday evenings working through
19:18
play cricket scorecards. Especially as you full time job
19:22
still played cricket Saturday, Sundays with your commitment
19:25
levels, your social life generally as well.
19:27
Precisely precisely it became it became like a job, which I know
19:32
sounds it still is a job now. And it became like a job that
19:35
you have to consider do a want to keep doing this.
19:39
But I think ultimately you, you see the commitments other people
19:41
are making, they're, they're, they're putting their, their
19:45
support behind you. And therefore you, you go, OK,
19:48
then let's, let's use the offseason.
19:50
So the 2022's winter into 2023 of OK, how do we how do we make
19:55
scale this and how do we manage it?
19:57
Perfect, right? We'll come on to that, but we're
19:59
just going to take a few more messages.
20:00
You're listening to PCR Sports. Good evening, welcome back to
20:10
the PCR Sports Show. We're here every Friday between
20:12
6:00 and 7:00, bringing you the latest from the sporting scene
20:16
of our city of Peterborough. And tonight is no different.
20:20
We're talking to Jake Burton, founder of Runs for Research and
20:24
Scott King from Alzheimer's Research UK.
20:28
And Runs for Research was an initiative that Jake created
20:32
back in early 2021, which has now gone on to raise over
20:36
£55,000 for our Alzheimer's Research UK.
20:41
Jake, very quickly just remind us again of how you've raised
20:46
this money through cricket. Runs for Research is a charity
20:50
initiative supporting Alzheimer's Research UK through
20:54
club cricketers committing to a donation at the end of their
20:57
seasons based on their runs and wickets.
21:00
Yeah, through their through their own cricket games.
21:02
Yeah, and it's 5 PA run, 50 PA wicket.
21:05
Yeah. Any thoughts of extending it to
21:07
catches, especially these wicket keepers out there?
21:09
It's something. That we offer, but because 75
21:13
eighty 90% of the people don't fall into that category.
21:16
Yeah, it's not a standard, but I would say a good chunk of
21:18
players will will do that. Yeah, they will.
21:20
They will replicate the catch and the the wicket keep and
21:22
dismissal with a with A50P donation.
21:24
So brilliant because it's their wickets.
21:26
Such a simple, effective format of raising money.
21:30
And I think The thing is the, the, the numbers involved, so
21:34
the five and 50P, it seems like a manageable amount.
21:37
We're always talking about, you know, these manageable amounts
21:40
that as you say, when they become, when they all, you know,
21:43
grow together. It's sort of 20 lbs at the end
21:45
of the season, but £20 from well, at the moment we're saying
21:49
500 people in 2022, right? It's it certainly stacks up so.
21:54
And last year's average donation was £20.70 across the the player
21:58
base Feel like an amount that is.
22:01
Unmanageable by somebody and out of their reach in terms of
22:04
making that donation as well. So it's very accessible in that
22:07
way. So this is scaling talked about.
22:11
It's now over 55,000 lbs after season #5 from year 2 to Year 5.
22:18
What have you done? What?
22:19
Who supported you? There must be some sort of
22:21
technology now that you're using, because I know you said
22:24
you're an accountant, so there must be some sort of software.
22:26
It's not the spreadsheet, is it? No, that's that's.
22:28
Exactly it you say it's not a spreadsheet, but in its core
22:31
values it is a spreadsheet. But fortunately with with my
22:34
role. I am an accountant by trade, but
22:37
spend a lot of my time in the tech space looking at computer
22:41
program software to, to try and make life easier.
22:45
And we partnered with a company as, as a, as a Business Contact
22:49
and they explained that kind of what they did.
22:54
And, and my boss spoke to me and he said, would this not do what
22:57
you wanted to do? Could we use you as a bit of a
22:59
Guinea pig to see whether this relationship with them will
23:01
work? If they can build your solution,
23:04
they can build anything for us from a day-to-day perspective.
23:06
So we trialled it and, and the line that we always use is I
23:10
give them the brief as to what I wanted, which was ultimately a,
23:14
a spreadsheet that would automatically pull data from
23:17
people's online profiles for, for where their cricket stats
23:20
are scored. And the answer I was given was,
23:22
yeah, that's easy. And my response was, it's not
23:25
that easy because I couldn't do it myself.
23:28
And within a matter of weeks, we, we tested it kind of in
23:32
March, April time. And, and once the season really
23:34
kicked off, it worked. It worked beautifully pulling
23:36
out all the data into a spreadsheet.
23:39
So then I was getting the same output as I was getting before,
23:42
but just not having to spend 7-8 hours on a week doing it.
23:45
That's exactly what I wrote down.
23:46
It's more automated because I guess before, in those year one,
23:48
Year 2 to an extent, you were sitting there and trawling play
23:52
cricket results effectively that's exactly and finding those
23:55
players to see even if they've played.
23:57
Yeah, exactly. I think that was that that was
23:58
the big time consuming is, is that there's no way of
24:00
determining whether that player is ever going to appear in that
24:02
scorecard. But you've got to check because
24:05
we're very, we're very protective over our runs and
24:08
wickets. So if things are missing, we
24:10
want them included in our totals.
24:12
So having to make sure they were there.
24:15
Some people did understand that. They said when when they
24:17
realised it was a manual process, they could they get,
24:18
they cut me a bit of slack. But once it was automated, it's,
24:22
it's very much a bit of a cakewalk now it, it does its
24:25
job. And now when people do find
24:29
issues, if they're very few and far between.
24:32
And that'll allow you to scale then, no doubt.
24:34
Exactly what what this means now is that there isn't really an
24:38
upper limit. This could be scaled from the,
24:41
the, the 700 players that we've got now, the, the 900 players
24:44
that we had in 2023. That number could go as as high
24:47
as you wanted it to really. And, and obviously we hope it
24:49
will, but it is, it is purely scalable now, yeah.
24:54
It's become a little bit more like a business, doesn't it, in
24:56
terms of the corporate support that you've had, the other
25:00
partners that are involved in this, in helping you produce
25:04
wristbands like I'm wearing here for example, and just getting
25:06
that message out there as well. Exactly, exactly.
25:09
It's, it's certainly like a business and, and I can kind of
25:13
match it up to, to being a bit of an entrepreneur in, in all of
25:15
this is you still have to build those relationships with
25:17
suppliers. Obviously there's a charity
25:20
message behind it. So you hope that you can, you
25:22
can kind of negotiate with them and they're willing to, to
25:24
support. And, and all the charity part,
25:26
the, the partners that have assisted us over, over those
25:28
five years have been really, really helpful.
25:30
And, and without some of them, we wouldn't be where we are
25:33
today through, yeah, whether that be the, the, the
25:38
merchandise that we've been able to offer back stickers,
25:42
wristbands, pieces like that that we can sell across to, to
25:46
our participants. And that's all about extending
25:49
that reach then, isn't it? Because we know how precious
25:52
cricketers are about their bats, for example, looking after them,
25:56
picturing them for socials. It's that message that's getting
26:00
out there subliminally at times. Exactly.
26:02
And that's exactly why the, the first kind of point that we went
26:07
down when we first started the first year was, well, what
26:09
should we do to, to get that word out?
26:11
And, and that was exactly it. Let's get a bat stick because
26:13
people will stand out there. People will say, what's that?
26:16
That sparks the conversation. That conversation then leads to
26:19
sign ups and hopefully then they're proud to to Don it
26:23
really. So who's helped you then to get
26:26
to that point in terms of brand, you know, materials?
26:29
Yeah, in the in the first year, we obviously needed a logo and,
26:33
and Chris Milner at Kite, a local Peterborough brand that
26:37
Nilesh is actually wearing. He designed all of the the the
26:42
logo for us as a graphic designer by trade.
26:44
He was, he was happy to do that and a cricketer himself.
26:47
So we've partnered really, really well over the five years
26:50
to to to do that. Those that logo was then said,
26:54
OK, we need a sticker to put it on.
26:55
So another local business, Mark Durham at Viper Cricket, then
26:59
offered to, to source as the, the, the bat stickers and then
27:03
very, very kindly then donates those to me every time I need
27:06
them, which is a really, which is a gesture ultimately that it
27:10
doesn't feel like a lot. But ultimately being able to
27:12
give a back sticker out to every player that's been involved
27:15
means that that then gets out to their club.
27:18
It goes wider and wider, something as simple as that.
27:21
But ultimately that sticker is, is great, but you've got to be
27:24
able to send it to somebody. And without my own employer, TC
27:27
Group, who offered to deal with all the postage that allow me to
27:33
send those back stickers all around the country and and
27:35
further afield where needed. I think those three are the main
27:39
people that have helped us get to where we've got to.
27:42
We've partnered with other other suppliers down the years who
27:45
have have produced products for us that we can we can sell in
27:47
and give away over over over the four or five years dipped in and
27:52
out of relationships with those guys first say those three would
27:55
we wouldn't be where we are without them.
27:56
Yeah, we talk about the initiative runs for research and
27:59
the brand that you've created now around this fundraising
28:03
initiative, you've gone in a step further and created your
28:06
own cricket team now as well. Yeah, exactly.
28:09
So in 2023 I'd been I'd been approached before that to to
28:14
maybe put an 11 on of people that represented the course more
28:19
as a this site. It would be good to meet people
28:23
and then it was OK then when, who do we play against?
28:25
There's countless charity sides across the country that we can
28:28
play against. But I really wanted to play
28:29
against people that have supported the cause.
28:31
So play with them but also play against them.
28:33
So in 2023 we we went down to Salisbury in in Hampshire and
28:38
played against them for the first for the first time.
28:40
That was game number one. Then in 2024 we we played three
28:44
further games up in, in Shelley, in, in Yorkshire and then in
28:51
Burleigh in, in the local area. We were due to play in Salisbury
28:55
again, but but the British weather prevented us.
28:59
And then into 2025 we've we've expanded and played four games
29:02
This year we returned to Shelley.
29:04
We we returned to Salisbury again after after the weather
29:08
the year before. We we stayed within Burleigh
29:10
Park Cricket Week and then we travelled across to, to Suffolk
29:13
to to Walsham and Willows as well.
29:14
So a good spread across the country.
29:16
Yeah, indeed. And Scott, that's really just
29:19
spreading the message, isn't it here about a RUK and the the
29:24
message of what ARUK do? I would say not quite half, but
29:31
about 1/3 of what I do is to do with awareness.
29:34
So you were talking there about things like merchandise and and
29:38
things like that. It's all, it's no good asking
29:42
for funds if no one knows who you are.
29:44
And unfortunately you do have to sort of go out there and sort of
29:49
say, you know, here we are, This Is Us.
29:51
There are so many charities working in the UK and all for
29:54
excellent reasons as well. And they all should ideally, you
29:57
know, have the same sort of, you know, awareness, you know, that
30:01
everyone has. But unfortunately we can't all
30:04
be Cancer Research. We can't all be, you know, the
30:06
button names that everyone thinks of, household names, I
30:09
suppose, whenever you think of a charity.
30:11
So yeah, a lot of what I do is, you know, when I turn up to a
30:15
place who and speak to someone who's fundraised for us, you
30:18
know, take a cheeky photo. Would you like a bucket?
30:21
Would you like, you know, as we're quite lucky that we have
30:25
what we call a hero colour in orange.
30:28
It's very bright. It's very, I can see you nodding
30:30
over there. It's too bright sometimes, which
30:32
is why I'm wearing a grey one as well.
30:35
The already is I picked purple because at the time that was the
30:37
charity colour and then I'll see them rebranded to to the orange
30:41
and it was like, shall I move with them or should I kind of
30:43
stick with where we are, which is the purple?
30:45
But I think in in a way it's another hero colour to a
30:48
certain. Extent well, that was the thing
30:49
we want to go for these bold colours that really you don't
30:53
see everywhere. You don't see you know, all over
30:55
the place you see red, you see blue, but orange purple in the
31:00
same logo. That's crazy, you know, and I,
31:03
yes, I was going to say that your excellent logo, I can see
31:06
was like our old comet logo. So yeah, I can say there's a.
31:10
Story there, but we won't say that one on air.
31:14
Right. It's gonna take another short
31:15
break, but we'll be back with Scott and Jake just after these
31:18
messages. Our guests this evening are Jake
31:21
Burton, founder of Runs for Research and Scott King from
31:25
Alzheimer's Research UK. Runs for Research was an
31:29
initiative that Jake created back in early 2021 in memory of
31:33
his granddad and has since five seasons old now and has gone on
31:38
to raise over £55,000 for ARUK Scott.
31:45
That's a phenomenal amount of money.
31:47
It is from Jake's hard work and you know, more recently through
31:52
the partners that he's got involved.
31:53
But what does that help support? What does that potentially help
31:59
ARUK to do? So it's tricky with research,
32:03
it's sort of an intangible thing, but essentially what we
32:06
do is we fund research into dementia and the diseases that
32:11
'cause it. So we work with, we've got
32:14
network centres based around the country that link up to
32:18
different universities, these different laboratories and we
32:21
essentially take applications from researchers and we fund we,
32:26
you know, we've got a whole science division that looks into
32:29
them to make sure that our money is spent effectively and well.
32:34
So far we've spent £268,000,000 in our history, you know,
32:40
funding the research and the, the difference that even in the
32:45
past five years that we've had, we've had so many excellent
32:47
breakthroughs. We've had a couple of drugs that
32:51
are currently available, not unfortunately on the NHS because
32:54
they are rather costly. But I was just reading just
32:58
yesterday that they're looking to sort of inspire a new era of
33:06
diagnosis for dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
33:10
So unfortunately, a lot of people who have it don't get a
33:13
diagnosis or if they do, it's too late before we can sort of,
33:18
you know, instigate any treatment to stop of stop the
33:22
proteins that grow in your brain that that we think that's the
33:26
thing that we think cause dementia and Alzheimer's
33:29
disease. So if you if anyone's out there
33:32
listening and is sort of, you know, weighing it up, I know it
33:35
can be scary, but the sooner you get a diagnosis, the better that
33:39
we can do with the treatment. You know, it's we want to get in
33:44
there before things. You know, unfortunately you
33:47
can't quite turn the clock back on a brain that's been infected
33:52
with dementia. So yeah, that's the sort of
33:56
that's where the funding is going from excellent initiatives
33:59
like runs for research. Jake, I mean, five years ago you
34:04
started out on this road. You've come a long way since
34:07
then in terms of the number of participants.
34:09
You've now got over £55,000 raised ambitions for 2026 and
34:15
beyond. I mean, I suppose what you've
34:17
said about the technology you've got on board now you've your
34:19
world's your oyster. Exactly.
34:21
I think, I think the numbers actually the numbers are, are
34:25
vast, but actually as long as it's supporting the 'cause
34:28
that's all that matters. The numbers are just are just a
34:31
number on, on, on the piece of paper.
34:33
Ultimately, I think as long as we can continue to see support
34:37
and that the numbers don't drop off a Cliff one year when people
34:40
have lost interest or found the different initiatives to
34:43
support, we will just keep doing it.
34:45
Well I will say having the support of cricketers like Sam
34:49
Billings certainly helps. I I read he raised just over
34:52
£200 for for this year's campaign, is that right?
34:55
Yeah, exactly. So it's, it's actually an
34:58
interesting story with Sam. So through, through my work, we
35:02
went to a conference hosted by Sage or Sage, one of the the
35:06
sponsors and, and he came to do a talk about sport, business in
35:09
sport and and that sort of stuff.
35:11
After the event, after his talk, we, we got to do a bit of a, a
35:14
sign in session and, and go up and, and meet him and, and Dan
35:17
Biggar, the, the Welsh rugby player was, was there as well.
35:20
And my boss was with me. And as we were queued in the
35:22
line, he said to me, why don't you talk to him about runs for
35:25
research when you get up there? And I'm not that sort of person.
35:28
I'm not not a put myself out there sort of person in all
35:31
aspects of life, but he kind of put me in a position.
35:35
My boss did stood away from me while I'm stood next to Sam and
35:38
said, are you going to tell him about this?
35:40
So I had no choice then at that point, so quickly kind of give
35:43
him the, the, the the postcard brief as to as to what it was.
35:47
And he said sounds really interesting.
35:49
Speak to the the contact over at Sage and he'll take some details
35:53
from you and I'll get in touch. This was on the Wednesday, I
35:56
think, on the way back from London.
36:00
He'd followed me on Instagram. I then sent him a message on the
36:03
Thursday morning kind of just thanking him for for speaking to
36:06
me and, and let me know how, how we can support it.
36:09
And, and his first answer was, well, what can I not do it?
36:12
I said, well, yeah, absolutely. I said.
36:15
He said, well, what do I need to do?
36:16
I said, so OK, then I said just just sign up in the way it's
36:18
everybody else. And then I went and did some
36:22
some more work that afternoon and.
36:23
That's good of you to do your day job.
36:25
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
36:26
Precisely. And about half an hour later, a
36:29
video landed in my inbox. And that video was him telling
36:33
everybody why they should sign up.
36:34
Which is an excellent video by the way.
36:36
And that he was going to donate 50P per run for every run he
36:40
scored. He's played out in Pakistan, he
36:42
played in the English Vitality Blast, he played in the the 100.
36:46
He's about to head to the UAE for the the UAUA ET10.
36:50
And as as Scott says, he's his contribution amounts to more
36:53
than £200 at the moment. Hopefully he'll score a few more
36:56
runs in the UAE and and then he'll settle up his donation and
36:59
and be part of the course. Again, we've talked about it
37:02
during the course of this show, but it's more than that, isn't
37:05
it? It's about having a player of
37:06
his stature, the networks, the relationships that he's got and
37:11
exposing run some research on a larger scale.
37:14
Exactly exactly that that video on on Instagram was, was viewed
37:18
hundreds of thousands of times. And it may well have been that,
37:22
that it it, it doesn't lead to sign ups now, but but as, as he
37:26
stays involved and hopefully he will stay involved over the
37:28
years, he, it does add that exposure and, and another quick
37:32
story on Sam in the first year of, of being involved with
37:35
Runcor research, one of my mates said to me, you need to speak to
37:38
a professional cricketer because they, they will help you spread
37:42
the awareness. And the guy mentioned, he said,
37:44
speak to Sam Billings because he's always really active on
37:47
social media. And at that stage, it was a
37:48
passing comment and nothing ever materialised.
37:51
And to think that five years down the line, that's exactly
37:53
what we've done through a completely unrelated method, Not
37:55
through me putting myself out there, but from just walking
37:58
into him in a in an accountancy conference.
38:00
And that circumstance, but you've taken advantage of that
38:02
opportunity, it albeit pushed into it a little bit, but at
38:05
your side, your comfort zone. Thank God for your boss, yeah?
38:09
We don't, we don't want to give him any more.
38:13
Brilliant Jake 22 and 6 plans, although you're still collecting
38:17
the money in from 2025 S 20. 25 Donation window closes on the
38:21
30th of November. We probably hope to to get
38:24
somewhere in the region of of more than 60 somewhere nearer to
38:27
65,000 will be our total at after five years.
38:31
But then for, for 2026, it'll, it'll be pretty much more of the
38:34
same, just more of the same core values that, that we've got
38:38
three or four runs for research 11 games.
38:41
But, but sticking to the core product of, of players signing
38:44
up and and committing again. We, we've, we've been sort of
38:47
circa 15,000 for the last couple of years.
38:49
So 65 you, you may be looking at 80 somewhere if, if the the
38:53
trends continue. But but again, yeah, the
38:56
numbers, the numbers don't mean don't mean a lot in terms of
38:59
that providing it's going to to the worthy cause that AIUK is.
39:03
Brilliant Jake, thank you very much for your time this evening.
39:08
It's really, really appreciated. Yeah.
39:10
Thank you for coming across as well.
39:11
Much appreciated and telling us a little bit more about some of
39:14
us Research UK and how Jake's initiative has really taken off
39:19
and supporting the great work that you guys do.
39:22
And just to highlight and really underlying, you know, it's
39:25
supporters that Jake, that means that we can, we can do what we
39:28
can. So you know, with Jake and and
39:33
people like him means that hopefully in the future dementia
39:36
and Alzheimer's will be a thing of the past and we can protect
39:40
future generations from such cruel condition.
39:44
Thank you very much, both of you for your time again this
39:47
evening. And Jake, no doubt we'll get you
39:48
on at some point before the season starts next year as well
39:50
for a bit of an update. Again, brilliant.
39:52
Thank you. Thank you for your time this
39:54
evening as well. Thank you for joining us for an
39:57
edition of the PCR Sports Show. As I say, we're here every
40:00
Friday, 6 till seven. We look forward to having your
40:03
company once again next Friday. But for this weekend, whatever
40:07
your involvement in sports, whether it's volunteering,
40:10
playing or spectating, we do wish you a very successful and
40:13
enjoyable sporting weekend.