POST RUN REPORT: Katie and I were dropped off near the start line an hour or so before the race began. Ellie Simmonds, Greg Rutherford and the biggest Olympian of them all Mo Farrah sent off 55,000 runners with a high 5 and we managed to get half way in just under an hour. We passed a granddad carrying a 40 kg fridge on his back doing his 30th half marathon for cancer research. Granny must be glad to have it back in the house! Two more pit stops meant we left too much to do in the second hour but we sprinted across the line after 2 hours and 10 minutes. Mills met us and we watched the Red Arrows weave their threads of read white and blue over our heads and out across the North Sea. Thank you again for raising a very tidy sum of £700 for a wonderful charity. If you can go and visit the centre and see for yourself.

 

LATEST: In response to a recent deluge of donations, I just want to say a very big thank you to you all. These people with diabilities are quite amazing. Ed Parker said in today's presentation to 200 boys at my school NSB about the WWTW Everest Expedition earlier this year that these people are proud people. They do not want our sorrow - they want our support. Calvert Trust Kielder gives them challenges as well.

PREVIOUSLY: Katie ran the GNR for the first time on her 17th birthday and crossed the line with her dad in two hours and 1 minute. So the target is to improve on that. Calvert Trust Kielder has provided outdoor challenges to disabled people for over 25 years on the south bank of the Kielder Reservoir. 'Life changing' is how many describe the effect after a week of carefully chosen challenges under the close supervision of skilled instructors. It is magical to see the transformation in people's confidence - see for yourself by watching the video:

http://www.calvert-trust.org.uk/about-us/calvert-trust-video

Like the neurologist Sir Ludwg Guttmann who inspired his patients with spinal injuries at Stoke Mandeville to compete with others with similar impairments in 1948, Calvert Trust Kielder encourages people to do the unthinkable and to attempt outdoor challenges, including some activities such as rockclimbing and sailing which most able bodied people would find daunting, and of course THE dreaded swing, (See picture above).

Michael Drax has also raised funds for Calvert Trust Kielder: in 2009 he took part in the 100 mile bike challenge with other members of his school Newcastle School for Boys and this year he organised his own Duke of Edinburgh charity fund raising event by walking along 40 miles of Hadrian's Wall.

Calvert Trust Kielder does wonderful work so please support Katie or her dad this September. 

 

 

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