I lined up at the Burgess parkrun start line, listening to the new runners' welcome and then the Run Director's address. I looked around at the 724 participants around me and wondered where will their parkrun adventure take them? Will it be from 5k to 10k to a half-marathon or a full marathon? Will it be some parkrun tourism or setting up an event?
I’ve met loads of incredible and inspiring people at Burgess parkrun and this morning in the field were two of them;
Laura Whelpton - previously an Event Director at Burgess parkrun, she relocated to the Netherlands and started the Amsterdamse Bos in March 2020 and it’s amazing!
Sylvie Besse - back in January 2022 she started the Kennington Park Junior parkrun. If you’re 4-14 years old you can do a Junior parkrun and there are lots of opportunities to volunteer at one of the warmest friendliest, diverse volunteer communities you’ll find.
Laura and Sylvie have shown me that you can show up and be your best at Burgess parkrun you can also set up your own event which has inspired me to do the following;
Run, what I have decided to call, the Burgess Marathon 2024 to raise funds for the charity Become.
My day job is working with care-experienced young people, a vulnerable group in society. I work hard to improve their outcomes. I love my job and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved to date however there is so much more to do. This is where the charity Become comes in. Becomes works tirelessly to provide advice and support to children in care and care-experienced young people, you can read about their work HERE
I’ve contacted Become and I’m going to raise money for the work they do, they’ve given me a place to run in the London Big Half on 1st September 2024, however I’m going to do more.
On 28th September I’m going to run Burgess parkrun 8 and a half times which will be the marathon distance. I am going to start at approximately 0500 aiming to run the final 5k at 0900 which will be when Burgess parkrun starts. The Burgess Marathon is born!
I love Burgess parkrun and I love working with care-experienced young people. Together I believe we can reach my fundraising goal of £1,000 to help Become continue to provide the invaluable support they provide.
You can help me in the following ways;
Donate at my fundraising page; https://2024thebighalf.enthuse.com/pf/aqasa-nu
If you work for your company please see if they will sponsor me or do some type of match funding.
Run the whole Burgess Park Marathon with me on 28th September.
Run any of the 8 Burgess parkrun laps with me.
Follow my training plan on my YouTube channel (still in development can anyone help?) as I’ll be filming and uploading my long runs and sharing more about the amazing work that Become do.
Share my fundraising link with your networks; let’s smash this fundraising target!
Run the final 5k Burgess parkrun at 0900 with me.
I want my running to be a force of good. By fundraising for Become hopefully more people can have Nu Horizons.
Happy running
I wouldn’t miss it for the world!
What a great plan!