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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Donation by Anonymous on 11/06/09 |
£100.00 |
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Maybe the fall off the bike and injured hands were pay back for the smugness!! Well done you were ace XXX Donation by claire and Jon on 26/05/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Donation by Grandpa on 18/05/09 |
£20.00 |
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Outstanding performance, well done mate. Donation by Paul Marchand on 15/05/09 |
£40.00 + £11.28 Gift Aid |
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Donation by Kristin Mugford on 11/05/09 |
£500.00 |
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Excellent photo, I'd sponsor that! Well done again, make your parents very proud, not envious just proud! Donation by Simon & Jackie on 06/05/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Stux - a shockingly impressive performance and a very worthy cause; well done on both counts! Donation by Zim Nwokora on 05/05/09 |
£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid |
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well done! you are a star. see you next yr again .. ;-) Donation by aida on 03/05/09 |
£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid |
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Well done Rich - fantastic time! x Donation by Lucy Norris on 30/04/09 |
£15.00 + £4.23 Gift Aid |
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Well done Rich....!!! Donation by Nadeem Rafiq on 29/04/09 |
£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid |
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Well done mate, I saw my friend to it on Sunday and I know how hard it was for her to complete the course. Donation by Sanjay Zala on 29/04/09 |
£10.00 + £2.82 Gift Aid |
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I feel exhausted just reading your time - well done Stux!! xxx Donation by Kat S on 28/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Fantastic " feet " Richard. So well done. Donation by Anne Davis on 27/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Well done on all the effort mate. Even if you do enjoy it! Donation by Jamie Dawson on 27/04/09 |
£15.00 + £4.23 Gift Aid |
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well done rich!! so impressive! tho if you were ever going to justify that outrageously smug pose we could not have expected anything less! xxx Donation by dave & em on 27/04/09 |
£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid |
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The lateness is because I'm disorganized, not because I doubted you... Donation by Davo on 27/04/09 |
£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid |
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You hardly looked like you broke into a sweat...sub 3 hours next year should be easy! Donation by Susi and James on 27/04/09 |
£20.00 + £5.64 Gift Aid |
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Well Done! Donation by Cecile on 27/04/09 |
£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid |
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Amazing - well done! We will be sure to cook you up some deep-fried goodness as a reward. Donation by Gibb and Yugo on 27/04/09 |
£30.00 + £8.46 Gift Aid |
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stop running and go back to work now ;-) Donation by Gauthier on 27/04/09 |
£100.00 + £28.21 Gift Aid |
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After such an amazing time it would be rude not to sponsor you!! Well done!! Donation by Sarah on 27/04/09 |
£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid |
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Is this pile what you aspire to? Really well done but scary at the end :( xx Donation by M & D on 27/04/09 |
£60.00 + £16.92 Gift Aid |
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Congratulations! Donation by David Brooks on 27/04/09 |
£50.00 + £14.10 Gift Aid |
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Good effort. You beat me to the finish and I was on a bike! Donation by Richard on 27/04/09 |
£25.00 + £7.05 Gift Aid |
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Not breaking 3 hours seems a bit lazy... Donation by N on 27/04/09 |
£60.00 + £16.92 Gift Aid |
| * Total raised online: | £2,846.00 |
|---|---|
| Offline donations: | £0.00 |
| Mobile donations: | £0.00 |
| Total Raised: | £2,846.00 |
| Gift Aid plus supplement: | £499.23 |
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