200 Miles in March
The Bull Family have been amazing fundraisers and supporters of the Hospice, since their Mum, Chris, passed away under Hospice care in 2004. Victoria is the latest to take on some fundraising with The Friends, and this is her story.
Victoria's Story
"My mum, Chris, passed in 2004 when I was 13. Her last weeks were spent in the care of the Wisdom Hospice. The hospice supported the whole family, as well as cared for her in the final weeks.
When she passed in May, the support of the Hospice was still evident, and it helped my siblings and me with the grieving process. We have all at some point completed fundraising for the Hospice.
My brother, Nick Bull, has run the London Marathon, raising money for the Wisdom. My Sister Kirsty Duncan (was Bull) also volunteers with The Friends and in 2014 ran 10 x 10 km charity events in celebration of Mum's 10-year anniversary. Again, always raising money to give something back. I have helped steward a few races, as well as complete a couple of sponsored walks, but it was only fair that I put on my running shoes and played my part.
Allison left anf Victoria Right holding hands with their back to the camera infront of a body of water on the grass about to do their run. They are wearing purple friends tshirts
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/vicki-allison-march-miles
The Challenge
On Sunday 28th Feb at about 8 pm. My partner, Allison, turned to me and said she wanted to complete a fundraising event. Having looked on the website and seeing the Urgent Covid Appeal. We knew that we needed something big enough to help support the Hospice.
So, we decided 120 miles in a month between us. As we both work full time, we didn’t want to go too mad. By setting a target that we didn’t think was realistic. But we also wanted to make it big enough to get everyone's support and sponsorship.
Deciding to start the very next morning (1st March) and complete the challenge over the month, we set up our JustGiving page and got our trainers ready.
However, by the 21st of March, we had both hit our longest run PB, our fastest 5km PB and most importantly our 120-mile target. We decided, with the aim of raising further money for the Hospice, we would just continue the challenge for the whole of March and increase our target as we surpassed it. With the promise of more sponsorship if we did; we had to keep on going.
So we upped the target to 140 miles, then with only 7 days left, 180 miles.
By the last day of our challenge, we hit 200 miles total!
We raised £2,400 for the Wisdom Hospice. Keeping our JustGiving page updated on our progress throughout the challenge but also collected in cash and cheques too. We took sponsorship in any form we could.
Allison left and Victoria right with a Friends branded cheque for £2,400 on the Hospice patio
The Finish Line
Having completed our challenge and smashing our original targets. Finally covering 100 miles each, running a total of 200 miles between us throughout March. As much as the 6 am alarms to go out for a run haven’t been our favourite. All in all, I think I speak for both of us when I say we have enjoyed the challenge. It's been good for the mind and body and it's amazing to see the incredible support we have rallied for the Wisdom Hospice".
Thank you to Vicki and Allison for all their support and their fantastic fundraising.
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