Hello! :-)

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

As some of you already know, two months ago I registered to participate in the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 11 Oct 2009! Although I have always been a sports person I have never done long distance running! The reason I decided to run is because the route is lovely (http://www.royalparkshalf.com/route-map.pdf), for some extra fitness, but mainly in order to raise funds for my favourite charity: Right To Play

Right To Play is an athlete-driven international humanitarian organisation that uses sport and play as a tool for development of children in the most disadvantaged areas of the world, including countries like Benin, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Zambia.The programmes of the organisation aim to improve the lives of children affected by poverty, war and disease. The teams work closely with communities to set up sport and play programmes designed to teach important skills including teamwork, conflict resolution, communication, respect and fair-play, as well as health programmes where the importance of vaccinations, prevention of TB, Malaria and HIV/AIDS is taught. The network and infrastructure set up enables local communities to take ownership of the programmes, leaving a long lasting impact. Right To Play is supported by an international team of Sportsmen and women who generously donate their time to actively support their programmes, including Ian Thorpe, Haile Gebreselassie, Martina Hingis, Lauryn Williams and Mike Powell. More information can be found on their website: http://www.righttoplay.org.uk/ 

I feel very lucky that when I was a small kid I always had the option to participate into sports. My involvement in sports not only gave good health and fitness, but also developed many of my social skills. I have been regularly training for the last two months and I feel I'm in good shape for the race. Can't promise my time will be the best, but I'll definitely try hard on the day! For those of you that want to come and support my 21km or 13.1miles race come along at 9:30am (http://www.royalparkshalf.com/). But what is really important for me is help me achieve my fundraising target!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to Right To Play and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Kostas