Before many Brisbane residents are even awake on Thursday 19 November, PA Hospital staff and running enthusiasts will be pinning on race bibs instead of lanyards for the Smiddy Fun Run. For many, it’s an event that’s been in the diary for years.
The Smiddy Fun Run has always belonged to the people who work here. In 2006, the PA Hospital Physiotherapy Department organised the first run in memory of Adam Smiddy, who sadly died that August, aged just 26 as a result of an aggressive melanoma diagnosis. Twenty years on, alongside the PA Research Foundation staff are still organising it, running it and cheering each other home.
From the humble beginning of the very first run in Adam’s honour committee member and PA Hospital staff member Angela O’Connor never imagined she’d still be doing this two decades later.
“It’s been an amazing journey from that very first year to now,” she said.
Angela puts the run’s longevity down to the people who’ve got around it each year. “Everybody’s kind of harnessed that energy, and the tradition and history and all the memories we have of Adam,” she explained.
Beyond being a committee member Angela herself knows the event well. In 2013 she was the first female PA staff member across the line, completing the 5km in 19 minutes 56 seconds.
There are devoted regulars who return every year, including staff like Angela who knew Adam, and Adam’s family have always supported the event.
“We’ve got some doctors that are running and that run each year. We’ve got lots of allied health and physio staff. We’ve got heads of departments,” Angela says.
Last year’s teams included Ward 2C’s Team Neuro and the PAH Pharmacy Run Club, all running the same 5km and sharing breakfast afterwards.
Skin cancer checks have been a key part of the morning too, helping to reinforce the sun safe message alongside the day’s fundraising for skin cancer research at the PA Hospital campus.
The run has changed shape over the years, from a relay in 2012 to the virtual Smiddy Fun Week during COVID-19, but it has been held every year.
“It’s only small, but it’s kind of local and intimate which is a big part of why it’s such a special event,” Angela says.
“It means a lot to the people that are there, and I suppose that’s the most important part. And we’re raising money for a great cause.”
The run has raised more than $215,000 so far, helping the Foundation to put funding towards skin cancer research and projects like the VivaScope 1500, a VECTRA 3D imaging prototype.
This year’s 20th anniversary run starts at 6am at the Translational Research Institute on the PA campus, with five laps of the TRI building making up the 5km. Run it, walk it or jog-and-chat it, and a light breakfast is waiting at the finish. Early bird registration is $20 until 5 November.
If you work at the PA, gather your ward or department into a team and help make the 20th one to remember. Register here.
Can’t run? You can sponsor a runner, or donate directly to the day’s fundraising total here.
Twenty years on, the PA is still getting around Adam
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