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Anita and Phil finished the final leg of their challenge in Auckland on Sunday 1st November. Despite agreeing to cross the finish line together, Anita did the dirty on Phil after his red sponge clown's nose had fallen off and he attempted to retrieve it some 50 metres from the finish line. Anita saw her chance and there was no stopping her, as she scurried to finish in 2:13:06, one second and one place ahead of Phil. Phil has since decided to give up running altogether, considering this latest set-back too severe to recover from.
Read all about it by visiting: http://www.spencerj.co.uk/5continents/
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Thanks for visiting the fundraising page of Anita (aka The Tortoise) and Phil (aka The Hare) Westlake.During 2009 the Tortoise and the Hare are planning to run five half marathons in five different continents, namely:
AFRICA - Marrakech, Morocco - Sunday 25th January
EUROPE - Paris, France - Sunday 8th March
THE AMERICAS - Vancouver, Canada - Sunday 3rd May
ASIA - Beijing, China - Sunday 18th October
AUSTRALASIA - Auckland, New Zealand - Sunday 1st November
The challenge involves running 65.5 road miles and travelling a total of 37,356 air miles (thankfully it's not the other way around!).
Phil is currently in hard training preparing for this challenge, completing many lengthy and demanding runs of 15-20 miles, and averaging a total of at least 60 miles each and every week. Being a reasonably apprehensive type of person, his motto is
'Be Prepared'.
Anita on the other hand, is busy preparing by purchasing a variety of sun creams of decreasing factors, evaluating numerous pairs of sports sunglasses and generally avoiding any strenuous exercise which could potentially result in injury. Being a reasonably confident type of person, her motto is
'Training is only for those for whom failure is a distinct possibility'.
Anita and Phil do hope that you will see fit to sponsor them over the coming year for what is, I am sure you will agree, an extremely worthy cause. St. Peter's Hospice is a Bristol-based palliative care organisation caring for people with incurable illnesses, usually cancer.
The specialist care provided by St. Peter's Hospice is offered free of charge at their two hospices, and across Bristol by their Community Nurse Specialists and Hospice at Home teams. During 2008, St. Peter's Hospice cared for over 1,700 patients and supported 5,000 family members. It costs St Peter’s £5 million each year to provide their essential core services. Over three quarters of their income comes from charitable sources and public donations and they promise to ensure that over 80p in every £1 raised in charitable donations goes directly to support patient care. The growth in cancer and other life limiting illnesses means that the need for St. Peter's Hospice has never been greater.
More information on St. Peter's Hospice can be found on their web site at http://www.stpetershospice.org.uk/. A typically patient and family story, compiled from the stories of many patients who have been helped by the hospice, can be found at http://www.stpetershospice.org.uk/content/view/24/50/. Please take a look when you have a few minutes to spare.
It really doesn't matter how little you feel able to donate - many small amounts will soon add up and enable St. Peter's Hospice to continue to provide the outstanding patient care they have been providing for the past 30 years. All donations will go directly to St. Peter's Hospice and will in no way be used to fund expenses, directly, indirectly or otherwise.
If you are interested in keeping up to date with how the challenge is progressing, then visit the Hare and Tortoise's Five Continents web site at:
http://www.spencerj.co.uk/5continents/
This page will be updated during the course of 2009 as the Five Continents challenge progresses, to include Anita and Phil's finishing positions and times (assuming, of course, that they both finish!). Please feel free to visit the site periodically, not only to see how the Fundraiing is going, but also to see whether Anita and Phil's distinctly different preparations have delivered the desired results.
Thanks in advance.
Anita and Phil
