Thank you for coming to our fundraising page. We are the McLoughlin family of 4, John (Husband/Daddy), Vicky (Wife/Mummy), Jessica (7 year old daughter/sister) and Alexander (4 year old son/brother) and we are the creator's of Roundhay Rudolph, which we would like to share with the wider community to provide some fun and Christmas cheer during this festive time, potentially encouraging exercise during these colder/darker days (we find exercise extremely good for all our mental health) and if you've clicked this far also to raise money for 2 local and 1 international causes as follows:

WWF - even before COP26 our 7-year old daughter has a passion for animals and wants to help save them and our planet. She's previously sponsored a tiger and her library books consist of books all about animals and their habitat. As part of her learning at school they suspended the curriculum and focused on animals and their habitat and what we needed to do to support our world for the future. This has led to us changing some of our behaviours, but we also wanted to raise money for WWF to help them with all their efforts to preserve our animals, their habitats and our world.

St Gemma's Hospice - living in Roundhay we are lucky that St Gemma's is serving the local and Leeds community, caring for those with cancer or life-threatening illnesses. With the pandemic we are going through, life is tough for all and hospices have been hit hard with their ability to fundraise and with additional reqiurements they need to undertake. But, they continue provide world class care to those that need it. We'd like to help support them and those who are seeking their care in raising funds to enable them to continue to provide their high quality of care. As a family we'll also be supporting them by running their Santa Dash in Roundhay Park in December.

Friends of Roundhay Park (FoRP) - we're so impressed with everything that FoRP does for the local community and to help us all enjoy one of the best parks in the world, Roundhay Park. For us as a family of 4 Roundhay Park has been an important part of our lives and never more so than during the last 18 months. Being able to exercise and have fun in the park has really helped us as a family and we'd like to give back and raise funds for FoRP so that they can continue to help support and develop the park for us all to enjoy. They are currently raising funds for new adventure trails and for a 150th celebration of the park and we'd very much like to support them in raising funds for these and other projects around Roundhay Park.

Sharing Roundhay Rudolph is inspired by Jessica, who has been looking for opportunities to help and support our community and through her learning at school is also desperate to help save the planet. The route is inspired by John's love for running although Alexander wasn't happy with the initial design as Roundhay Rudolph had no mouth, which was promptly corrected.

So if you would like to support these 3 causes then please donate through this page. It would be fantastic to raise as much funding as possible for all these causes, but fundraising is not the only reason we've set this route up. Exercise is a key way we as a family combat pressure, stress and aid our mental health. We're hoping providing this route enables those that run/cycle/walk it to gain the same benefits as we do through exercise and given the fun route potentially inspire people during the colder darker months. We'd really like to see everyone's efforts so please use the hashtag #RoundhayRudolph, can we get it trending ........

Look out for our posters and our route directions, perhaps take a photo of them to aid you in completing the route. We've set up Strava routes for those who use Strava as well, which can be found at:

Start 1 - Oakwood Clock: http://www.strava.com/routes/2893897569790743848

Start 2 - Roundhay Park: http://www.strava.com/routes/2893830882526916274

Roundhay Rudolph’s Head http://www.strava.com/routes/2893936452207231272

Please take care along the route, which follows and crosses busy roads (please use crossings) and may be uneven or slippery in places. The route is being shared to be used at your own discretion and risk and please do so, but have fun and enjoy!

Wishing those that celebrate a Merry Christmas and everyone all the best for 2022.