I am the Youth Worker at STEPS Club for Young People in Weymouth. We are a Registered Charity providing a range of developmental; opportunities and support for young people aged 13-19, including those who are disadvantaged, vulnerable and who have learning disabilities. Funding to run a youth service was withdrawn by Dorset Council in 2016 and, whilst most youth provision in the area has disappeared, we saved STEPS by running it as a Charity.
We need to raise funds every year to keep the Club going and this includes doing an Annual Sponsored Challenge event. We are now recruiting people to take part in this years’ event…… and BOY, does this look like a fun one!
This year, we will be doing the ‘Inflatable 5K Bournemouth’ event on SATURDAY 25th APRIL. It’s actually in Ringwood and there are 5K, 10K and 15K options (though I only want our runners to consider the 5K or 10K options).
It’s a flat course, only 5K or 10K (3.2 or 6.4 miles) and there’s no mud swamps, so it’s essentially a much easier event than the Weymouth Half-Marathon and the Brutal Run (our first two events). And with no less than 14 giant inflatables per 2.5K circuit and a giant foam cannon/zone at the end, it’s a whole load of fun!!
Everyone who completes the event gets a high-quality finishers medal, pair of socks, neck buff, a KIND snack bar and other finish-line goodies! A certificate will also be available to download after the event.
The event is in the morning and early afternoon and we will be allocated a start time a little nearer to the event. This year, partly to try to avoid drop-outs and to incentivise fundraising, we have decided to do the following if you are running for us:
1. You pay the entrance fee to STEPS as we have to pay for all our runners in one go. The (discounted for charity) fees are £24 for the 5K and £31.50 for the 10K.
2. We will refund this amount to you if you raise £200 or more!
3. We will be providing free minibus transport to and from the event.
As we have done previously, we will provide participants with physical Sponsorship Forms if you want them and we will provide a link to set up your STEPS-linked fundraising page on Justgiving. All we ask is that you do your best with the fundraising and, if using Justgiving, that you spend a little time nearer to the event messaging people on Facebook (as this proves to be extremely successful and makes all the difference!)
All funds raised help us to keep the Youth Club going and providing a range of developmental activities and support for our young people.
I need to know numbers soon, so if you are interested, please could you contact me asap to let me know if you want to be part of our *amazing* (obvs) team this year!! Please send me a private message (or a friend request and message). As in previous years, I have set up a special, exclusive Facebook group for our runners to share information, inspiration, fun and photos!
I hope lots of you will join us for a fun, exciting event this year and to support STEPS!
With Many Thanks!
Tom Lane
Contact: [email protected]
PS Here’s a link to the ‘UK Running Events’ website where you can see details of the event and pictures of the awesome inflatables (check out the ‘The Obstacles’ and ‘Photos’ tabs!)
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