Former police officer running in memory of friend and colleague
A FORMER police officer will be running 10km every day for more than five months in order to raise money in memory of his friend and former colleague on the force.
Richard Vahey, 49, is about to embark on a series of runs in memory of Karl Addis, who died in February this year due to a sudden illness, devastating his friends and family.
Mr Vahey met Mr Addis during his time working with the police, about 10 years ago. The pair stayed friends from there.
Mr Addis was best man at Mr Vahey’s wedding.
Mr Addis was a well-known face, focusing on community policing around the Bridge and Delancey Park. He left the island a few years ago to return to the UK while Mr Vahey, who served five years with the force, now runs his own carpet cleaning company.
He said his friend’s death had a deep impact on him.
‘Karl’s death was absolutely devastating. But it brought my friends and family closer together.
‘It’s nicer to become closer with Karl’s family, despite the awful circumstances.’
He decided to honour Mr Addis with a series of 10km runs over 161 days, in recognition of his police number, starting from Friday, the 161st day of the year.
He also hoped to raise £1,000 for Help a Guernsey Child, but would ideally like to reach £1,610.
The charity was chosen by Karl’s family because of his support for children. He was also well-known locally for the time he spent as a football coach with Rovers AC.
n Richard Vahey has a Just Giving page, entitled Richard’s 161 10k runs for Karl, which is also linked from his Facebook page. Anyone interested in joining one of his runs should message him on Facebook.
