TIME and again, as the rain fell, people said it was good to reclaim Queen's Park in the name of something decent, something positive.
The occasion was Moira's Run, a 5K designed to celebrate the life of Moira Jones and to enable runners to enjoy "a wonderful park" and raise money for the charity set up in her name.
The popular 40-year-old sales consultant was murdered in Queen's Park in May 2008.
Yesterday, some 350 people assembled before 10am and did a mass warm-up exercise on the steps of the park's bandstand before setting off.
The run was started by Dame Elish Angiolini, the former Lord Advocate who led the prosecution at the trial of Moira's killer, Marek Harcar. He was jailed for at least 25 years in 2009.
Dame Elish is principal of St Hugh's College at Oxford as well as a patron of the Moira Fund, which helps people bereaved by murder or manslaughter.
Ms Jones's mother, Bea, told the runners: "We are just overwhelmed by the wonderful turnout and the outpouring of support there has been for this event.
"Moira was full of fun and full of life, and she would have loved this. When she died, all her friends and colleagues wrote wonderful things about her, and one of them sticks in my mind today. It said: 'Always warm and smiling, Moira was a magnet for goodwill'. I thank you all for showing us today that not only was Moira a magnet for goodwill, but that she still is."
Once the run had begun, Dame Elish and her fellow Moira Fund patron, actress Elaine C Smith, spoke of how much the event meant to them.
Smith said: "The thing for me is about reclaiming the park from very dark stuff for the people who live around here and have loved this park for years. It is lovely for the family and for the local community to do something positive."
"It's actually a joyous occasion," added Dame Elish, "to celebrate the future of what we can do to try and change the circumstances where there are no-go areas in cities. There shouldn't be any no-go areas in any city. This is a beautiful, beautiful part of Glasgow. It's great to see that so many positive things happened here over the last few years, and this is part of that journey."
At the finish line, as she prepared to hand out medals to the runners, Bea Jones said: "It's been very emotional. I feel better now that I've seen everybody coming here. There's a wonderful atmosphere."
She said the run's organisers were "talking about [it becoming] an annual event."
The first runner home was Richard Cooper, 43, who lives in Giffnock but grew up in Staffordshire and went to school with Ms Jones's brother, Grant.
Mr Cooper, a railway company director, said: "I haven't seen Grant for 25 years but I saw the event and I knew the local link at both ends for me ... so I was always going to want to run this. I feel the run is a really nice thing for Moira and for Grant and all the family."
Grant Jones said afterwards that the run had been a "wonderful, positive event. Moira would have been delighted with it all". He said the event would be held again next September.
George Watson, community development manager at Queen's Park FC, was one of a squad of people associated with the club who took part yesterday. He said: "The weather has been horrendous but it has not dampened the spirits. The enthusiasm levels have been amazing."
Near the finishing line, a striking flower arrangement carried a hand-written message: "Lovely, warm, fun-loving Moira," it said. "You are in the hearts of hundreds today as they run for your life."
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