Work colleagues pull together in marathon effort for cancer charity
A fitness firm from South Shropshire that swaps its staff drinks for team marathons dedicated last month’s event to Testicular Cancer Awareness Month.
BeaverFit, based at Walkmills near Church Stretton, offers staff the opportunity to take part in the 26.2-mile run on the last Friday of every month as a team-building exercise.
Throughout April, the team decided to turn its run into a fundraising exercise. Raising a total of £250 for the Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation, members completed the long-distance run across the Shropshire hills and even stopped to do 100 pull-ups at the halfway point.
Tom Beaver, company owner, said: “It might seem crazy to some but everyone who works here is really committed to their fitness, so on the last Friday of every month we have a team-building day for the company where if you would like to go out and run a marathon, you can.
“The industries we work in are very heavily male-dominated and therefore a charity such as this seemed really important for us to support.
“We begin at around 5am in the morning and run a full marathon over the Shropshire Hills.
“It can be brutal, and sometimes takes more than five hours, but it’s a great way to bond, challenge ourselves and keep fit.
“This time we added in some pull-ups on a BeaverFit garage rack at the 18-mile point to really push us to our limits.
“We don’t force staff to take part but most do willingly. It’s a great event.”
Tom said the idea started during the first lockdown when he ran a marathon every Friday for 12 weeks.
“After the first couple of months, I started integrating some of the team members from the welding team to the pack-out team, then some of the sales guys joined in and we just realised how good it was for morale,” he added.
The firm decided to make this month’s event a charity fundraiser after hearing it was Testicular Cancer Awareness Month.
Around 20 members of staff took part throughout different legs of the marathon, with Tom leading the way for the entirety.
“This is just the start,” added Tom. “We’ll be continuing to raise money for various charities in 2021.”
Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness and educating others about the most common form of cancer in men ages 15 to 44 and provide lifesaving valuable support for patients, survivors and caregivers.
The event was sponsored by Grenade and Brewdog which supplied pre and post-workout fuel for those taking part.
