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Running for a good cause

Photo by Robert DeFrank Jake Flatley and Erin Noon of Charleston, Pennsylvania, join in the marathon in the name of Flatley’s sister, Anne Farrow, a marathon enthusiast recovering from breast cancer surgery and unable to participate this year.

WHEELING – Some participants in the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic had distinctive pink ribbons on their shirts marking breast cancer survivors and the hashtag #stronglikeAnne. They were taking part in the name of a marathon enthusiast who was having her own battle with cancer.

Erin Noon and Jake Flatley of Charleston, West Virginia, are participating in the half-marathon walk for Flatley’s sister, Anne Farrow of Wheeling. Her husband, Ricardo Farrow was racing in the half marathon run.

“My sister, Anne, has run this before, and I know in 2020 and 2021 when the races were canceled, she was pretty disappointed. She was going to run this and she talked to me about participating in the weekend somehow. Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer in the winter and Erin and I just decided that if she can’t be out there, we’re going to be out there for her,” Flatley said, adding they will have someone special rooting for them among the audience.

“She’s going to be out here watching. She’s going to be coming with her kids. We’re running this to be strong like Anne,” he said.

“She got surgery in April, so we have been fundraising for her,” Noon said. “There’s been the T-shirt sales. People have done meal trains for post-surgery. We’re just coming out here to show that if she can’t do it, we want to be able to, and do it for all the people who can’t or are currently fighting or going through something crazy in their lives. We want to do it for them.”

They added Flatley has been a past participant of the marathon.

“I’ve walked in this twice, once with my dad and once by myself,” he said. “I’m ready to walk with Erin and we’re doing it for everyone who would like to do it but can’t get out here for whatever reason, and that includes my sister, Anne.”

Noon is a newcomer to the marathon.

“This is my first time, so I’m a little nervous,” Noon said. “We just want to finish.”

Anne Farrow was on hand to greet her husband as he finished his run. She added she was touched by the support.

“It’s tough to see everyone accomplishing something you would like to do, but at the same time it’s very motivating because everyone out here is working their hardest, doing their best. I have family and obviously, my husband running for me, so it’s a very special thing,” she said. “I’ve been running since I ran cross-country in high school and I’ve been running ever since.”

She added her first time participating in the Wheeling events was in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she had been looking forward to the half marathon before her medical issues came up.

“We talk about it all the time just driving around Wheeling,” she said. “We would talk about our experience running the Ogden, how it was tough but it was fun.”

“I was having some struggles around mile six, but her fresh thoughts in my mind, they kept me going, they really got me through the dark times,” Ricardo Farrow said. “This is the woman that I love. This is the backbone of our family and I would do anything for her.”

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