Jake Cook: Friends to run marathon together in memory of racing driver and young dad who took his own life at 30

Jake Cook had competed in a wide range of motorsport competitions, including the Formula Ford EuroCup and British Formula Renault Championship. He was the first ever recipient of the MSA Young Driver of the Year Award, in 2010. He died in November, leaving his wife, Eve Lake-Grange, young son Monty and stepson, Hayden.

Jake had already enjoyed driving success and had raced alongside some of the sports' big names including Daniil Kvyat. He dreamed of becoming a Formula 1 driver and his all-time hero was Ayrton Senna. His devastating death has led his school friends to come together in his memory and raise money for mental health charity, MIND.

His friend Jojo Quattrocchi, 32, said: "It's been something so tragic but we've managed to try and spin that into something positive by running for Jake's family, for MIND, and just sharing our solidarity for mental health and how we can maybe break these stigmas."

James Brodie, 30, bonded with Jake, who lived in Rotherham, over their love of auto racing.  He said: “He was just the sweetest guy. Even though I live down in London now and he was living up in Sheffield, we would stay in contact and we sometimes messaged each other about F1. He was just someone who I really enjoyed that world with.”

Olivia Parker, 30, spoke about Jake's loveable character. She said: “He was very hard-working. He was very determined because not only was he incredible at sport and at such a high level, but he was also very intelligent.  He was also very humble. He was never someone to particularly brag or rub it in your face.

“He had competed as a Formula racing driver for his whole life. He was an extremely sporty and inspirational person and I think we thought what more could we do in his honour than a sporting challenge?”

The group decided to start a fundraiser for the mental health charity, MIND, to help increase awareness of men’s mental health. Men make up 80% of suicides that happen in the UK each year.  Originally, the group had set their fundraising target at £5,000 but after receiving generous donations, they decided to double it to £10,000. 

Miss Parker said: “It’s really been quite amazing to see the generosity of people coming together. I think people really understand that MIND is a charity that they want to contribute to.”

MIND puts 83 pence from every pound they receive directly into helping people with mental health difficulties.  In spite of the progress made by mental health charities in the past few years, there is still a stigma around being open about mental health, especially for men.

The group are all taking a different approach to training for the marathon but are updating each other along the way.  Mr Quattrocchi, who is starting his own mental health charity, has found the process challenging but enjoyable. He said: “I’ve never run 10K in my life. I've gone years without running and it has been really good, personally, to get back to feeling the benefits of running, and then obviously the end goal is to finish it, all in honour of Jake."

The group will be running Sheffield half-marathon on April 7. You can donate to their fundraiser here.