A Warrington Wolves winger ran 10k to raise money for the club’s Foundation, in memory of her teammate.
Running alongside her teammates, Rebecca Nixon raised money for the women’s side and Lilly Day, who died last March.
Lilly, aged 17, died after suffering complications from a ruptured spleen.
Rebecca ran while nursing an ACL injury but said it was important to her that she took part for her friend, who had just stepped up to the first team.
She said: “It was one of those things I couldn’t go out on the pitch and play rugby in memory of her.
“So, when we found out there was going to be a Warrington 10K one of my friends, Nicole, had turned around and said, ‘should we run it together and raise some money, for Lilly and have the money go towards the women’s team?’
“Lilly had only come up to the first team last year. She trained with us, and we always had good chats and had a laugh together in training and outside of training.’
“It worked out well. And we raised nearly £1000 in memory of Lilly.”
The club’s Foundation also works within the local community to create more opportunities for minority groups in sport, such as wheelchair basketball and, and physical disability RL.
However, with the recent announcement of the women’s side withdrawing from the Betfred Women’s Super League, the money will be used for funding of new equipment and promoting the team.
The club confirmed the withdrawal on their website, with player welfare being at the heart of the decision.
They said: “A growing injury list, coupled with multiple player departures, has left the squad significantly depleted.
“As a result, we have been fielding a very young and inexperienced team, placing them at increased risk of serious injury when facing the league’s strongest sides.
“This situation also highlights the broader financial challenges faced by clubs working to grow the women’s game.”
The Rugby Football league handed The Wire a nine-point deduction after failing to produce teams against Leeds Rhinos and St Helens.
The club will apply to play in the Championship in 2026. However, the RFL has said Warrington’s place has yet to be decided.
Rebecca said: “This season we’re no longer in Super League, and now the women are kind of just in their own little bracket.”
“There’s no like help from the outside really, I think the money would be good for getting new equipment, like balls, new cones, new bibs, because we were sharing all kinds of equipment with the men.
“If we wanted pink bibs, we could have pink bibs, if we wanted to have pizzas after a game, we could have pizzas after a game because it’s our money.”
