As our ladies team players hit the half way stage of the month they had already reached their overall mileage goal and had smashed their fundraising target.
Together they started the month wanting to run a collective 500 miles and raise £500 for some very worthy charities. By the 15th of January many of the ladies had run more than they had before with many achieving personal best times and distances run. Having already reached their targets they have unanimously agreed to keep running and are aiming to finish January on 1000 miles and £2000 raised. We are so proud of what they have achas a team and wish them all the best for the rest of the month.
Several of the runners let us know why they decided to take up this challenge –
Robyn our Ladies 1 team captain and instigator of the challenge said: “When I saw Maggie’s 50 Miles in January Challenge, I knew it was a challenge I wanted to be a part of. My mum was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer, on Christmas Eve a few years ago and she’s been the strongest, bravest, most inspirational woman since. During mum’s treatments and stem cell transplants, it was reassuring to know we had the support of Maggies Centre, Newcastle, if we were to need it. I’m not a natural runner (struggle to run a bath!!) so getting my wonderful team involved has given me the encouragement, motivation and drive needed to get out during the wet, cold evenings of January. I’ve loved hearing everyone’s experiences, stories and achievements. I’m proud of every single one of them including myself and couldn’t have done this without them. On a side note… it’s always a bonus wearing my Maggies running vest with pride… just made sure you take the label out.”
New to WHC Cherry joined the team: “It was a great share from Robyn and I liked the idea because it was manageable, I could do as much or as little as I liked around the day and across the month. My husband has recently been diagnosed with cancer and that came up as one of the charities to raise money for so I couldn’t very well sit back and do nothing. I’m so humble to be part of a brilliant team.”
Katie commented: “For me hockey was some me-time, time to de-stress and I would look forward to training with the ladies every week. When the lockdown came it was hard, the exercise stopped and I missed the weekly laughs that came at training. Then Robyn asked if anyone wanted to join her with the task of running for a charity Maggies who I had never heard of before. I started reading and realised what wonderful work they do and the support they give to families dealing with Cancer. I feel very lucky to turn something like running which I really didn’t like into raising money for a wonderful cause and creating more friendships along the way. I could not of done any of it without them. I am proud to be part of this team.”
It is a joint feeling within the team as Claire mentions: “Running has always been at the bottom of my list for exercise unless I had a hockey stick in my hand but the 500 mile challenge grabbed my attention due to the current restrictions. Being as it’s a team effort I’ve felt under no pressure to do a certain amount a week and the encouragement and advise from the ladies has been amazing! I’ve surprised myself every time I’ve ventured out by increasing the distance and I’m intrigued to see how far eventually I’ll be able to go! I can now say that going out for a run doesn’t fill me with dread.”
Rachel added: “It’s a great feeling to know that you’ve got a whole team of wonderful ladies cheering you on even when you’re on a run by yourself. That support and encouragement is exactly why I enjoy playing hockey so it’s great to be able to have that feeling whilst in a national lockdown.”
If you would like to support the team visit their Just Giving page here https://www.justgiving.com/team/Worthinghockeyclub