FUNDRAISER, Rachel Clark, ran a mile around Glastonbury Festival’s iconic Pyramid stage to celebrate reaching the halfway point of her ‘mile a day’ running challenge.
Rachel has pledged to run a mile a day for the whole of 2019 to raise funds and awareness of We Hear You (WHY).
She organised a special mile, running around the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury Festival, to celebrate reaching the halfway mark.
Rachel said, “The mile worked out well! We met with the organisers of the festival a couple of months ago to ask them if we could do this special mile and to much surprise, they said yes!
“We couldn’t announce the news until it happened for public safety reasons as they didn’t want droves of people trying to join in., which is fair enough, but they allowed me to have 12 people running with me.
“They initially said that I could do it on the Wednesday or Thursday, at the beginning of the festival where crowds were at their lowest, but actually we ended up doing it on the Sunday, which brings in the biggest crowds.
“We did the run at 9am, we got the route all mapped out for me which was nice for a change, the hardest part of this challenge isn’t the running, but the organisation of all the runs.
“Everyone there was super accommodating and it was great to run around the Pyramid stage. I was allowed to bring in three people with me to the festival and the rest of the 12 were made up from WHY volunteers who were already there for the festival, promoting the charity.
“Overall, this is my 22nd Glastonbury Festival, after volunteering here many times, and what a way to celebrate the half-way of my one mile a day for 365 days challenge. It really was effortless thanks to the help of everybody.
“Over this whole process so far I have really enjoyed meeting everyone. I have ran with over 1,000 people and raised over £3,100.
“It has caused such a ripple effect that I never could have imagined when I started this. It has encouraged people to start walking, running or being more active and inspiring others to start their own challenges. It’s good to keep the interest up and raise awareness for this amazing charity.
“Running still isn’t my favourite thing – I certainly won’t be running next year that’s for sure! But I have a few exciting miles ahead of me including running with 350 pupils at Selwood Academy and 250 pupils from Hayesdown Primary, as well as others, in the future.
“Half done, just half to go!”
To keep up to date with Rachel’s miles and fundraising visit www.365forwhy.co.uk. To donate visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/365for WHY.
