The best friend and husband of the inspirational Claire Lomas are carrying on her fundraising work in her name and memory, aiming to push her lifetime total to the £1m mark.
Claire successfully evented up to four-star (now five-star) level until she was paralysed from the chest down in a fall in 2007. She went on to raise over £952,000 for charity before she died, aged 44, in an accident last summer.
“It was devastating to lose her but I vowed to carry on fundraising in her name,” her friend Stuart Hall told H&H. “I want to take it up to £1m as a true legacy for an amazing lady. It just seems just the right figure for Claire, really, something she was hoping to do and then go beyond.”
Stuart and Claire met at a sports awards ceremony in their home town Melton Mowbray some 15 years ago and had been friends ever since.
“We just became great friends and did all the charity stuff and challenges; we did everything together,” he said. “Her husband Dan and I did the London Marathon with her in 2021, when Claire went in a wheelchair, and we were the ‘good girls’, running in high heels, wigs and big boobs!
“She was just always so positive and full of fun, and nothing would daunt her; I used to call her a cuckoo, ‘You keep coming up with these ideas, you must be daft’, but she went through with every one. She inspired so many people.”
Stuart’s fundraising page is online now
Stuart also accompanied Claire to some of her inspirational speaking engagements, and saw the effect she had on people.
“It was uplifting, to see what a difference she could make to people’s lives,” he said. “And she didn’t really know why. She said ‘That’s just me’.”
Stuart has been organising fundraisers for the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation, a charity close to Claire’s heart. These include auctions and a motorbike ride, and also a cross-country course-walk at Bramham International Horse Trials with Lucinda Green on 6 June.
He and Dan are also taking on their own version of the Three Peaks Challenge – the Three Spokes. They are aiming to complete the Great Manchester Run on Sunday (18 May), the Great North Run in September and the Great South Run in October, in wheelchairs in tribute to Claire.
“Dan, Claire and I did do the Great North and the Great South in wheelchairs a few years ago,” Stuart said. “So we have done it, but we practised no end for that!
“My wife and I were in Jordan last year when Claire passed away and that night, me, Dan and my wife sat at the bar, and we just said ‘Let’s do a challenge next year for Claire’, and the wheelchair one just seemed the most appropriate.
“If we can get to £1m, I’ll be really chuffed. And I just hope she’s looking down, watching.”
To book a place on the course-walk, or for more information, email claireschallenge@mail.com. To donate, visit the fundraising page or to give £5, text CUCKOO to 70085.
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