On Saturday 26th July, a team of 10 of our members (including myself) set out to push a 60kg sled 13.1 miles (a half marathon). We were doing this to raise money for a young boy, Ben, with cerebral palsy, who needs an operation in the US which will significantly improve his quality of life by enabling better movement in his limbs. His parents Mikayla and Jay have been working to raise money over the last year to fund the operation, and many others have helped out with various charity events. We thought we would do out bit to help, as there will be a lot of post-op physiotherapy required to get the most benefit from the operation.
Nine members from the gym kindly volunteered to help out and together, on a very hot summers day we proceeded to push the sled for this very worthy cause. We kept a good pace and worked hard throughout the afternoon chipping away at the half marathon, 25metres at a time. In total we had to push the sled 844 lots of 25metres, and worked in a relay fashion. Well we managed it, and quicker than expected in a time of 2 hours and 53 minutes.
A 'Just Giving' page (see link below) was set up to raise funds through sponsorship and all the members of the sled team did fantastically well in encouraging their friends, family and colleagues to donate.
https://www.justgiving.com/sledgepull4ben/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=Sledgepull4ben&utm_campaign=pfp-tweet
SO FAR we have raised £1088 towards Ben's physiotherapy but we urge anyone who can spare just a few pounds to donate towards helping this little boy receive the care he needs to improve his life dramatically.
If you haven't donated and would still like to donate then please do so. Many thanks to all those who have donated so far, your generosity is greatly appreciated. Thanks also to the team who pushed the sled, especially for giving up your Saturday afternoon. So thank you to Steph, Andy, Nathan, Ian, Nate, James, Tom, Dan and Rob, Very proud of you all, and thanks for making it such a positive day.
Here's a photo of the team with Ben.
A good day, lots of fun and hard work, and a wonderful feeling of working towards a worthy cause. Watch this space for news about other charity events in the future.
Phil
