In May 2022, I will be taking on a challenge which involves running, cycling and climbing over 335km in 7 days in the Namibian desert - including running a full marathon in 40+ degree heat.

Having been given the opportunity to participate in this incredible challenge through my work, I would like to raise as much money as I can for two very well deserving charities that are very close to my heart, Macmillan cancer support & ITP association.

Many of you will be aware of the amazing work that Macmillan do, but likely have never heard of the ITP association. Rather than do these charities an injustice in poorly summarising their activities, I would urge you to visit the websites below to get a flavour of the incredible work they do. I am also always open to talk you through why I have chosen these charities over a coffee (or beer).

Due to the way JustGiving pages work - it is not possible for your donations to be automatically split between the two charities; so if you are considering making a donation – I would ask you please manually split your funds between the two, using the two links below under team members (both called Monika JURCIC, top link is for Macmillan, second for ITP association).

e.g., if you would like to generously donate £10; you may consider donating £5 to Macmillan and £5 to ITPA (or any other split weighting you would like).

Both of these charities are incredibly deserving, and each penny goes a long way, for Macmillan due to the scale of what they are achieving and for ITPA as a small charity, so each donation makes a big impact.

In the leadup to the event itself I will also be completing smaller challenges along the way, including the Bath Half Marathon in March and a training camp in Lanzarote next week (18th-22nd of November) which includes running a marathon and over 120km of cycling.

Whilst I am absolutely not a long-distance runner, nor particularly good at cycling I have been slowly building up over the last 12 months – despite some injury setbacks, I feel confident I am able to take this challenge on, and so any of your generous donations no matter how small will be met with physical endurance from my side. If COVID-19 prevents the challenge taking place in Africa, I will be taking to the streets and parks of the UK to complete it. So don’t worry, blood, sweat and tears will be shed one way or another.

In addition, in a bid to raise as much money as I can, I will be posting regularly on social media during my journey to Namibia ’22 – something I am quite apprehensive about & not very good at, but if my terrible influencer skills bring any additional £££ then it’ll all be worthwhile.

Thank you all very much in advance for your support & watch out for the first updates.

Best,

Monika

ITP Association - https://itpsupport.org.uk/index.php/en/

Macmillan cancer support - https://www.macmillan.org.uk/