I don’t expect everyone to dig as deep as last year – especially when I've told most of you how much I enjoyed it! With hindsight though, I think the whole training part must have escaped my memory – this year’s lowlight would have to be covering my office floor in blood after a 9 mile run when it turned out that my “new and improved” trainers were a little too small...
Please just give whatever you can afford, however small, and don’t worry if you’re feeling too credit crunched/are fed up with receiving marathon sponsorship requests.
I'm running for the Just Children’s Foundation, a fantastic charity which works to improve the life of horribly poor kids in Zimbabwe, and which a good friend of mine is closely involved with. I’m sure everyone knows what a horrendous situation the country is in – but even so, these things still shocked me:
- Zimbabwean people have the world's shortest life expectancy, just 34 years, down from 60 in 1990.
- There are 1.5m orphans - an incredible 15% of the population
- The central bank issued the first Zim$100 TRILLION note in January 2009 - it is worth less than 1 USD, and is not enough to buy a loaf of bread.
Briefly, the charity looks after some of the most vulnerable, poor, and needy children in the world by providing them with food, accommodation, education, and hope. To give you an idea of what your money can do:
- £5 per month - Provides for all educational needs for a child for a year including all secondary school fees, uniforms and stationery.
- £25 per month - Pays the wages for an expert adult carer for the children.
- £50 per month - Pays for a carer and the food, clothing and educational needs of a child.
Please have a look at the website here http://www.justchildren.org.uk/About/ if you’d like to find out more.
Please sponsor me now - I'll be hugely grateful for whatever you can give.
Rich
___________________________________________________________
Update: 27th April
A day of beautiful sunshine - perfect for the spectators if not for the runners! There was a lot of collateral damage in the race - apparently almost a quarter of runners needed medical attention.
Fortunately this didn't quite include me, although after fighting tooth and nail with the little demons begging me to stop for the last 5 or 6 miles I was in a fair old state for a while!
I was chuffed though with my time of 3.09 - which will remain my best for quite a long time I think.
Huge thanks to all the supporters, and for all of your donations.
Rich
Raised:
189%
Raised so far: £2,846.00
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Good luck. Enjoy the sun Donation by Man UTD on 24/04/09 |
£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid |
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Good luck mate Donation by Deb Biswas on 24/04/09 |
£26.00 |
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Thanks for supporting JCF - those children need your help. Donation by Guy Gallico on 24/04/09 |
£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid |
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Good luck! Donation by Croalls on 24/04/09 |
£30.00 |
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Good Luck Smokester Donation by Botham's on 24/04/09 |
£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid |
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We'll be cheerin you on Stuckster xxx Donation by Clauds & Iain on 24/04/09 |
£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid |
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Good luck! Donation by Mary Cundall on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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I was going to give you the whole thousand, but you look like such a gloating smartarse in your picture that I'm only going to give you twenty. Donation by Jon Cox on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Good luck Rich. Donation by Les and Linda on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Make sure you wear some shoes that fit right. Donation by Steve on 24/04/09 |
£50.00 |
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Thank-you for your continued support and custom over the last few years. Donation by Vauxhall Rentboy Service on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Good luck Stuckey Donation by Neil on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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It would be more but I didn't need to hear about you bleeding all over the office Donation by Fraser on 24/04/09 |
£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid |
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Try not to run directly behind Borat in a mankini this time. Good luck Stooks! xxx Donation by Han on 24/04/09 |
£75.00 + £21.15 Gift Aid |
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see if you can do it twice within the time that it took me last year Donation by Barnaby on 24/04/09 |
£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid |
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Good luck Stuxster, can't believe you're doing it again. Vaseline at the ready! xx Donation by Jo K on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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I'm not going to try and get you within 5p of your target! Good luck, I promise I'll let you know as I'm overtaking... Donation by JP on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Good luck Rich. Keep up the training for next season... Donation by Tim Gallico on 24/04/09 |
£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid |
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If you could slow it down a bit on last year it might make spectating easier ;o) Donation by Ellie on 24/04/09 |
£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid |
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Good luck mate - i hope your training was better arranged than your sponsorship drive! Donation by SR on 24/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
| * Total raised online: | £2,846.00 |
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| Offline donations: | £0.00 |
| Mobile donations: | £0.00 |
| Total Raised: | £2,846.00 |
| Gift Aid plus supplement: | £499.23 |
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