Off Topic: I'm sorry but I think you know what this is about......
Posted by Sean Connelly on September 2, 2016, 2:42 pm
Hello everyone,
This is a little bit late this year but after your fantastic support in April this year for me on the London Marathon, it has made it a little bit harder for me to post here again, but then there is never any harm in asking, so here goes
On Sunday 11th September, Louise and I will be competing in our 16th Great North Run in Newcastle. As much as we enjoy this weekend away (honestly, we do....usually by Sunday afternoon anyway!) we continue to do this race as a way of raising money for a worthy cause.
This year we have chosen another new charity for us and that is Meningitis Now . One of Louise’s friend’s grandson, Harry John Done, who tragically lost his fight to the disease in February 2015 so we’re only too happy to try and raise as much money as we can in his memory. There are still lots of children who still aren’t vaccinated against this disease and there still many strains that are not yet covered. It can also affect you at any age and we know personally two people who became seriously ill in adulthood.
Meningitis Now were the first meningitis patient group in the world, founders of the meningitis movement and the only charity dedicated to fighting meningitis in the UK.* Their mission is to be there for everyone affected by meningitis, spread lifesaving awareness about the disease, fund research into it and campaign for the introduction of licensed vaccines. They need over £3 million every year and without any central government funding, they rely on people like us to help.
Therefore, we would be very pleased if you could help us support this good cause by sponsoring us again as we run the 13.1 miles from Newcastle to South Shields in our bright orange Meningitis Now vests.
As always I’ve set up a Virgin Money Giving web page which is an incredibly safe & secure way to donate and ensures that the money reaches the Meningitis Now quickly along with the Gift Aid your donation may be eligible for. There is also further information on Meningitis Now on there as well as a picture of us in our running vests!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for your donation.
Regards
Sean
P.S. Even though I have now done twice the distance, watching this time lapse video of the course from last year still fills me with dread as it’s still a long, long way to run!
Despite the very sunny weather on Sunday, we both completed the Great North Run with just a few aching muscles and some minor sun burn! I could use the heat as part of my excuse of being 4 minutes slower than my previous best from last year rather than the lack of proper pace training....either that or it's just an age thing! Louise was happy to be a minute faster than last year and much better than she has done in her training efforts!
But what really matters is that with the kind generosity of all our supporters we will easily surpass our target amount once all the money is accounted for and are happy to have done this for Meningitis Now in memory of Harry.
As always it was a great weekend and still an incredible sight to see 50 odd thousands individuals put themselves through the challenge and to stream over the finish line and see the looks of joy and relief on their faces knowing they've done it....whether they walked most of it or were on the heels of Mo all the way! Congratulations to them all. A huge thank you to everyone who sponsored them as well as us and have made a difference to lots of good causes and lives in the process.
Roll on next year :-)
Thank you all so much for your continued support.
Sean & Louise
P.S. We've updated the Virgin Money Charity page to include the photo of us both with our medals in the Meningitis Now tent at the end. The page will also continue to accept donations for a while yet ;-)
