Mark Allison

Beyond Everest - 40,000ft virtual climb

Fundraising for St Benedict's Hospice, Sunderland
£520
raised of £400 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
40000ft virtual climb "Beyond Mount Everest", 29 June 2024
In memory of Margery Allison
We provide hospice care & support services to the people of Sunderland & district

Story

I'm Mark Allison, a 52 year old fundraiser from the North East of England. I've been raising funds for St. Benedict's Hospice for the last 31 years. My Mam was a day patient at the hospice for 12 months and received subsequent palliative care during the final 2 weeks of her life as she battled lung cancer.

The debt of gratitude I feel towards the Hospice and the amazing staff continues to be repaid with a series of events that have grown in size, complexity and difficulty over the years.

The main event so far has been a 20,000 mile run around the world which is being done in 9 different stages. Until the pandemic, a total of 5 stages and 10,000 miles had been ran across the UK (John O'Groats to Lands End), USA (California to New York), Australia (Perth to Shellharbour) and Europe (Lisbon to Belgrade to Kiev) with £352,000 being raised for St. Benedict's Hospice and other local charities.

The around the world run will resume in Kiev when it's safe to do so with stages to Kazakhstan and Shanghai then across Japan and finally New Zealand.

Due to the pause in the run around the world, the next major event is a 3150 mile coast to coast run across the USA from Coney Island, New York to Huntington Beach, California (via Death Valley). This will be done in 100 days starting on May 1st 2025.

In the meantime, the fundraising continues with various endurance events.

This page is for the latest event to be held on Saturday June 29th 2024. Using one of my favourite and challenging machines, the VersaClimber, I will climb the equivalent of sea level up to the summit of Mount Everest. That's a distance of 29,029 ft (8848m). It doesn't stop there, however. Since it's St. Benedict's Hospice's 40th birthday, it seems "sensible" to push on and climb tp 40,000ft.

In running terms, I anticipate this to be as difficult as, if not more than, a 35 mile ultra marathon. I hope to finish climbing anywhere between 7 and 10 hours. That's the equivilant of 14 to 20 VersaClimber classes at David Fairlamb Fitness back to back.

The Beyond Mount Everest challenge is not going to be easy by any means and I do hope you think it's one that is worthy of sponsorship for such an amazing cause. These are tough times for charities. To help the hospice to continue to care for terminally ill people in our region means that now, more than ever, they need our support.

Please donate whatever you are able to as every penny counts. It really does. Did you know that of the £106,000 raised during the run across the USA, an incredible £50,000 was made up of donations of £10 or less. So putting all of our collective efforts together means that we can make a huge difference to such an important charity.

Watch out on this page soon for details on how you can follow the event live. As ever, the journey can be followed by searching "Run Geordie Run" on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. There is also www.rungeordierun.com for more in depth analysis.

Thanks for reading and a huge thank you in anticipation of your kind support.

Mark Allison

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About the charity

St Benedict's Hospice & Centre for Specialist Palliative Care provides care to maintain and enhance the quality of life for people who have life threatening illnesses. Our service is free, however your support, be it financial or practical is needed to help us to continue into the future.

Donation summary

Total raised
£520.00
+ £112.50 Gift Aid
Online donations
£450.00
Offline donations
£70.00

* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.