Another record breaking year!
Yes, another record breaking year for the Reigate and Redhill YMCA Annual Fun Run. The start of the day was a bit overcast and it looked as if the clouds may be there for the duration, but the sun shone on us once again and over 1190 runners achieved their goal of taking part and finishing their races. Alister Moses, a teacher at local school Wray Common, completed his hat-trick of wins with another excellent time of 24:59 and for the first time he was joined by his brother Oliver, a teacher, at Reigate Priory School, who finished with a very credible time of 28:39 and fifth place. Children from both these schools and schools across the community lined up to take part in the Children's 1 mile races. All the children ran incredibly well with some achieving excellent times we shall be looking out for you in London 2012! First time visitor to our Fun Run was 17 year old, Georgie Bruinvels, who finished in first place in the Ladies Race with a fantastic time of 30:35, we certainly look forward to seeing her again. The whole day was a complete success and has become a real community and family event.
A big thank you to our sponsors, Brewer and Sons, Kimberly-Clark, Radio Redhill and all the volunteers, without who we could not deliver such a valuable and beneficial event. Chris Brewer from Brewers & Sons, Jon White from Kimberly Clark, celebrity chef Tony Tobin, ex-Mayor and Vice Chairman of the YMCA, Penelope Horsfall and local councillor Julian Ellacoat joined us on the day and kindly agreed to be official race starters which proved very popular with everyone and continued their support by presenting the prizes to all the race winners. Jon White from Kimberly Clark and our own CEO, Ian Burks took part in the adult 5 mile race both finishing with times of 38:07 and 32:42 respectively. A full set of results can be found by visiting www.racetimes.co.uk.
After the running, comes the sponsorship collection and every year the runners raise enormous amounts of money to help with the community work being developed at Reigate and Redhill YMCA and this year has been no exception. Already, £4,000 has been collected from over 100 runners and every penny raised will go towards our Yippee Project which was set up 3 years ago for local children with disability. This project provides disabled children with one to one care at our holiday playschemes as well as an exclusive scheme for children who find it challenging interacting with mainstream children. We also have a Saturday club for local disabled children who come along with their families to take part in a variety of activities not normally made available. The Yippee Club helps children with learning difficulties and physical disability build confidence, make new friends plus it offers valuable support and respite for their families. Please help us reach our target of £7,000 and enhance the lives of local children.
For the first time this year, a team of Yippee kids took part in the Children's 1 Mile, all of them completing the 1 mile course and they are all now actively collecting sponsorship money to help develop the work of the project and create new and innovative activites for local children with disability. There will be a top prize for the person raising the most sponsorship and everyone raising over £30 will receive an exclusive Reigate and Redhill YMCA miniature FM radio complete with headphones. Sponsorship can now be collected online and runners are able to create their own personalised online sponsorship page, full details of which can be found on www.justgiving.com.
For more information on how to raise money or how Reigate and Redhill YMCA is developing their community work with projects like The Yippee Club, please contact Kim Roderick, 01737 779979, kim.roderick@ymcaredhill.com.
Thank you for your continued support, see you all on 6th May 2007.