Hundreds of runners and walkers have pulled on their trainers and completed 5k to raise more than £12,000 for staff battling coronavirus at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals.
The fundraiser started out as a fun way for a group of keen runners and walkers to continue some ‘normality’ during the lockdown period – but instead the campaign has completely taken off with the group smashing their £500 target and raising an incredible £12,060, with a guaranteed gift aid of almost £2,500.
The 5k event – which was completed by hundreds of people in their gardens across Suffolk on Saturday, April 11 or while abiding by social distancing measures close to home – was organised by John Reynolds, who runs Core Club Online and John Reynolds Soft Tissue Therapy (JRSTT).
The biomechanics specialist and soft tissue therapist, has had to switch his business online because of the pandemic, hosting running sessions, marathons in the garden, movement pattern challenges and now the 5k event – with future challenges planned for the upcoming weeks.
All money raised by the runners and walkers will go to the COVID-19 Staff Wellbeing Appeal which has been launched by the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) which runs the two hospitals.
More: Subscribe to our daily coronavirus newsletter, with all the latest from where you liveSpeaking of the amount raised, Mr Reynolds said: “This is beyond anything we could have dreamt of.”
The fundraiser reached £4,000 on Thursday, with Mr Reynolds saying it started jumping massively on Saturday and gained donations of at least £3,000 in one day.
“A lot of our members work at the hospitals on the frontline, and many others have also been volunteering to help during the pandemic, so we wanted to show our support for them and all the amazing work the NHS is doing right now,” he said.
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But it’s not only Mr Reynold’s running community which has got involved as around 500 people have been raising money by completing the 5k at the weekend – many of whom come from the wider community.
He said: “I just wanted to make the Easter weekend that bit more normal for my members, who would usually have a running event or something to go to.
“It really is great that when things get tough we all come together like this – I have to keep checking the amount we have raised is even real.”
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