London Marathon Charity 5k Virtual Fun Run/Walk

Yvette Dean tells us about her experience of adapting her London Marathon fundraiser following the Coronavirus social distancing rules.

“I was given my Running clubs place for the London Marathon, which should be taking place this weekend, April 26th. I chose to raise funds for Notts Hospice as they were extremely supportive when my father-in-law, Mick, attended their day centre shortly before his death in Feb 2019.  They continued to provide support to my mother-in-law, Glynis, and the rest of the family even after he had passed away.

I set up a fun run/walk event for 29th March, to generate some monies for the charity and invited lots of people. I obtained permission from the council to use a local park and I even promised cakes & medals for all participants. Then came the lockdown and the government restricted our movements and encouraged social distancing.

What to do?  I’d made a commitment to the charity and I knew that, even more so during the lockdown, they would continue to need some support. I’d already got the medals, which are lovely, very similar colours to the Hospice logo and inscribed with Hospice Hero VLM 2020. I was encouraged by a fellow runner to go ‘virtual’ with my event. The government had encouraged us to all socially distance but we could still get out and walk/jog and run, whether it was with the kids or to walk the dog, and I knew people would all soon need a good excuse to get out. So the virtual ‘call’ went out:

I have the medals!
I have the support!
We just can’t do it together anymore!
But we can still become Hospice Heroes.

So the event was changed to virtual and people encouraged to run/walk whenever & wherever they could for this event.  Post a picture of themselves during their run/walk to the event page. Make a donation to my charity fundraising page and in return one of the beautiful medals & a thank you note would be winging its way to the person as soon as possible. I couldn’t provide the cakes but that can be left until lockdown is over and we can all celebrate together. 
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I’ve now raised, with the help of so many hospice heroes, £746.20 plus gift aid. I know it doesn’t seem much but I never expected this amount during the crisis we all find ourselves in.  I’m overwhelmed and so very grateful for all of the support, thank you to everyone who stepped up in these difficult times and made this happen. I’m still aiming to run the rescheduled Marathon in October and hopefully I can generate some more donations between now and then.  Many of supporters sent me their picture, with their medal, once they had received it.”