On your marks: Great Telford Run to raise charity cash
A Shropshire Rotary club is taking its cue from the success of the London Marathon to stage what it has dubbed The Great Telford Run this summer to raise cash for local charities.
Nick Burn from Telford Centre Rotary Club, who is heading the project, said: "We are putting on a first ever virtual run for charity in Telford.
"A virtual run means that individuals run at locations convenient to them, be it the gym, garden or elsewhere, as opposed to meeting or congregating in person.
"We are using the basic model adopted by the London Marathon. The registration fees, less costs, are paid over to charity.
"Individual runners are not required to seek sponsorship. If however they want to raise funds for a favourite charity they can and so we generate funds for Telford-based charities and provide a fundraising platform for any number of other good causes.
"The London Marathon has about 25,000 in the live event and has 50,000 runners in the virtual event. So as you see, it's quite a thing."
The Telford run will take place between June 14 and July 18, and the club is hoping to attract the widest span of participants, from casual runners and walkers of all abilities, to more serious runners from running clubs, students, children, and Rotarians.
There are 5km and 10km, as well as a challenge event called the T50.
Nick said: "The T50 challenge requires the runner or walker to complete a total of 80k/50 miles within the stated period. The runner is free to complete this in segments This should be attractive to the committed 5k park runner as well as the serious virtual event runners who may opt for 10k or 5k or half marathon distances."
A web platform for the event is expected to become operational soon.
Nick is planning to take part himself, but has yet to decide at which distance.
