Pierre Laubscher started raising money for the Ukraine Red Cross in Mar-2022 with the Half Marathon #SheffieldUK. Pierre was just a fun runner completing about 500km a year, but as the conflict continued, he just carried on, now in its fourth year. Pierre passed 7,000km in his running challenge in Feb-2026 and is running the London Marathon on 26-Apr-2026.

In Oct-2023, Pierre set up the Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Running Club which has over 1000 members worldwide. Members are also able to join this fundraising team.

Why? Humanitarian aid is still needed and will be needed long after the conflict is over. Whatever you can spare, maybe the price of a meal out, that would be a small sacrifice compared to the hardship and tragedy experienced by the people of Ukraine. Pierre has met many Ukrainians on his fundraising journey, and one family has moved home 16 times. It has been a far more moving experience than he imagined.

The British Red Cross and its Ukraine partner are still very active with hundreds of volunteers from Ukraine and the UK. They still need our help now more than in the beginning and help will still be needed beyond peace. The Red Cross provides relief for the tens of millions of people in Ukraine who have fled their homes, and have lost loved ones, by donating food, water, shelter, heat and power.

With the support of the British Red Cross, friends, parkrunners, members of the public, and the worldwide Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Running Club on Strava, the fundraising goes on. The RCUCRC entered teams in the Great North Run in 2024 and 2025 and we are entering again in 2026. This is the largest Half Marathon in the world, with over 60,000 runners and the RCUCRC raised £2,600 in 2025. We passed £15,000 in March 2026, and we need your help now as we chase down our global target of £20,000 by the end of 2026.

Why? Your help is needed now as we recover from the severe winter and the power outages after the attacks on power stations. Temperatures fell to zero Fahrenheit and millions of properties were without power at the end of January. The conflict still goes on, and the Ukrainian Red Cross still has a major presence. Fear, anger and worry across Ukraine right now is about the continuing conflict and missile and drone attacks have hit record levels every year. When peace does come, funds will be needed for repatriation and rebuilding and what future will there be with so many casualties and young people abroad who may not come home?

How bad is it? Serious injuries and loss of civilian lives are a daily occurrence. During the winter of 2025-26, Ukrainians at home were spending most of the day without heat and light as power stations were targeted once again. Surviving on no power at all for over 24 hours was almost impossible. People are still trying to keep warm, and cook on portable gas stoves. Night-time torture of trying to sleep and staying safe continues. Ukrainians have a stark choice of remaining at home and hoping to stay safe behind two walls, with a chance of getting some sleep, or trying to sleep in the car in underground car parks. Going to shelters two or three times a night is not entirely safe, lifts are rarely working and people have to use the stairs for fear of getting trapped. In high-rise apartments, elderly people choose not to go shelters, as they cannot use the stairs. Whilst two walls at home can protect against drones, hypersonic missiles can destroy entire buildings and there is not enough time to escape to shelters when the air raid warning sounds. So people often end up not sleeping at all which is a living nightmare.

Would you like to donate? Would you like to do more? Contact the RCUCRC at admin@rcucrc.org.uk for details. Why not do something special in 2026? Join the RCUCRC fundraising team and help the people of Ukraine. Your fundraiser could be one event, a run, a charity football march or a coffee morning. Your running goal could be a race, or distance target, for example, 500km in 2026, or whatever you think, to suit your timeline? Maybe 500km or 1,000km this year, where your running app data so far counts towards your goal. Of course, you don’t have to run and you can just donate at www.justgiving.com/team/rcucrc.

Want to join our running group? The RCUCRC has over 1,000 members worldwide and you can join at www.strava.com/clubs/rcucrc. Together, we ,run around the world every 14 days, so if you are not running with us already, please join and add your running distance to our total. We organise twice weekly #Virtual and #InPerson runs posted on Strava from our base in #SheffieldUK.

Thank you so much for your help.

RCUCRC: Supporting the British Red Cross and Ukrainian Red Cross charities.