A 35-strong team are set to run for suicide prevention

On Sunday 10 May 2026, John McGhee and his son Jack will be taking part in the AJ Bell Great Bristol Run to raise funds and awareness for two suicide prevention charities – a cause very close to their hearts.

John’s eldest son, and Jack’s brother, Max, died by suicide in 2017 while studying at university. John and Jack will be joined by 33 other runners, including family, friends and former colleagues, who will be taking part across both the 10k and the half-marathon events.

Those joining John to run the 10k will be raising funds for Ripple Suicide Prevention, while runners joining Jack for the half-marathon will be raising funds for Hope Against Suicide, a Bristol-based charity.

“Suicide is the biggest killer of men and women under 35 in the UK – and of men under 50 – and one university student in higher education dies every 2.5 days,” explains John. “Both Ripple and Hope Against Suicide are doing such amazing, important work and they’re equally deserving of our support, so we wanted to take this opportunity to help them both. Splitting the causes across the 10k and half-marathon seemed like a good way to do that.”

Two important charities

Ripple Suicide Prevention was founded in 2021 by Alice Hendy MBE, who lost her brother to suicide after he had been researching techniques for taking his own life online. A digital crisis intervention tool, Ripple is installed on a device or network and identifies harmful user searches across the web, including forums and video sharing sites. Harmful searches are instantly identified and intercepted with a message of hope and signposting to localised 24/7 helplines and mental health resources.

“Ripple is free for parents, guardians, individuals and school settings to install as a browser extension and it’s intercepted more than 70,000 harmful online searches since it launched,” explains John. “There is also a version of Ripple that can be installed on Wi-Fi networks to support all devices and buildings.”

Hope Against Suicide was founded by Clare Kemp, who is from Bristol, with the aim of offering a compassionate, visible presence on the city’s streets for people to turn to before they reach a crisis point. The charity’s trained response volunteers are deployed in teams of two or three and walk around the city centre wearing easily identifiable uniforms.

An Aftercare Team supports individuals encountered by the Response Team during patrols, as well as supporting the charity’s own volunteers.

Hope Against Suicide will soon launch a Listening Hub in the city centre, with the aim of providing a safe and non-judgemental space where people can speak to trained listeners about their struggles.

A special landmark

For John and Jack, the Great Bristol Run route will pass close to a significant place for their family – the TalkingPoint Bench by the Harbourside.

The TalkingPoint bench idea was initiated by We Are Aware, a Community Interest Company based in North Somerset working to raise awareness for mental health, suicide prevention and wellbeing through staging events, innovations and building partnerships with other organisations. It also supports individuals with long term mental health conditions directly through groups and activities.

One of its projects has been the creation of TalkingPoint benches, which take the shape of a semi-colon and serve as a place to connect and reflect, as well as provoke and promote conversations about mental health in passersby. Thanks to Hope Against Suicide, Bristol now has its own TalkingPoint bench at the Harbourside, close to the Great Bristol Run route.

As well as an explanation of what the bench represents and a list of helplines for mental health support, the bench includes a dedication in Max’s name.

“When an author uses a semi-colon, it’s to show the sentence hasn’t ended and there’s more to come,” John explains. “So the semi-colon has been adopted as a symbol of hope for people who have faced mental health challenges, as a way to show that while these struggles may cause a pause in your life, there’s still more to come.”

With this in mind, the logo for Ripple uses a semi-colon in place of the ‘i’.

Local support

Among those running with John and Jack will be family, friends and former colleagues at ForrestBrown, Catalyst R&D and Freyja Fit (a locally based female-focused gym equipment brand). There is also a team of five from Willow Chiropractic in Nailsea who have recently started a running club to support with training.

This will be Jack’s first half marathon whilst for John, this will be the second year he is taking part in the 10k at the AJ Bell Great Bristol Run.

“It’s such an amazing event and after enjoying it in 2025, I immediately signed up again. Last time I just wanted to see if I could run it in less than an hour, but this year will be so much more meaningful with these important causes we’re supporting. Jack and I are incredibly grateful to everyone who is supporting us either by running, fundraising or sponsoring. Thank you so much.”

John first got into running when his niece encouraged him to take part in the Clevedon Park Run two years ago and felt the 10k was a natural progression for him.

“I get that physical activity is important for my wellbeing, but one thing I love about running is the sense of community it brings. Just being able to build that feeling of connection into your wellbeing routine is so important – whether it’s running with friends, the strangers you meet at events or the people you’ve come to know at your local Park Run.

“The support you get from strangers along the way at the Great Bristol Run is just fantastic and makes a big difference.”

To support John’s 10k for Ripple visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/john-mcghee-and-friends-1

To support Jack’s half-marathon for Hope Against Suicide visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/jack-mcghee-1

The popular 10k and half-marathon events at the AJ Bell Great Bristol Run include a trip through the historic harbourside, past Castle Park and through Queen Square, with views along the Avon Gorge. As well as plenty of motivating music and entertainment along the way, a live finish-line DJ will be ready to carry runners through the final stretch, with a celebratory après-run space waiting for them in Millennium Square.

Entries are selling fast and are expected to sell out months in advance. Find out more and enter at: greatrun.org/events/great-bristol-run