Wanting to find a way to give something back to her local community, graphic designer Fleur Ashdown decided to set her sights on a new challenge while helping Rockinghorse.
We launched our Run, Ride and Ramble in June and since then our group of intrepid supporters have been walking, running and cycling around their local areas aiming to clock up enough kilometres to get around the globe.
Fleur, from Haywards Heath, decided to get involved to support the local charity; “I love fundraising for Rockinghorse because it is such a worthy charity and one based nearby too. I think it’s so important to support smaller charities; they’re there for us so we should be there for them.
“I am an able and capable person, so it seems only right for me to do my bit to try and raise money to help support the sick children in my area. Covid has hit everyone hard in all sorts of different ways so if I can help out by getting out running, even better and running really helps me clear my headspace – you can never feel bad after a run!”
Setting a target
Fleur has set herself a weekly challenge of 20km to add to the total and uses her Strava app which tracks her progress and links directly to the Just Giving page she’s set up for her fundraising; “I really like that it gives all my kind donators an insight into what I am doing and how hard I am working to reach my 20km weekly target.
“It’s great being able to track my progress, share with friends and the other members of the team on the app. It’s also nice to be able to see how everyone else is doing with their progress as well.”
So far, the group have managed to collate enough kilometres to get to Kazakhstan, that’s nearly 4,000km, but there’s still a way to go to get to their total of just over 40,000km! And whilst people who are cycling may have managed to get further than those walking or running, every little helps to add to the overall total.
Why we launched the campaign
Lucy Pond, the Challenge Events Manager at Rockinghorse, explains the idea behind this challenge; “Unfortunately marathons are still not quite back on the cards this year so we wanted to come up with something for all those people to put their training to good use. But it’s not just for marathon runners, anyone can get involved, regardless of age or fitness levels.
“Taking the dog around the block, going out for a walk in the countryside with the family or cycling to and from work, every little bit can help us to reach our goal and continue to provide support to sick babies and children across Sussex.”
You can choose whatever way works best for you to help collate those kilometers, and participants can easily record their distances on the Strava app, linking this to a Just Giving page to collect your donations. Strava can track your fitness activity and records your run, walk or cycle route along with calculating the distance covered and time taken.
And it’s not just for individuals, Run, Ride or Ramble is also a great challenge for running or cycling clubs, groups of friends who like to exercise together or work colleagues. More people mean bigger distances so get going and see how far you can get over a month.
As Fleur says, “It’s great because you can do anything you want to do, it all helps, it gets you out and about and you’re donating to a great cause at the same time. It’s good for you and good for the charity!”
To get involved all we ask for is a £50 minimum sponsorship or donation to get involved. Join the fun and Run, Ride or Ramble for Rockinghorse on Strava here.
For more information or help setting up your kilometers, contact Lucy Pond at: lucy@rockinghorse.org.uk
