10/10/10 - Mind calls for 10 Londoners from every borough for ultimate London charity event
Posted: Wednesday 11 August 2010
Mind is calling for 10 people from every London Borough to join our team of runners for a very special Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon on 10/10/10, World Mental Health Day
The annual Hyde Park event is the ultimate Londoner’s city sports challenge. Mind is celebrating the important October date by asking 10 people from each region of the capital to create a league of Londoners who are spending World Mental Health Day raising awareness of mental health, and improving the lives of people with mental distress by running for Mind.
Mind is already on its way to creating its London league but is still short of the full 10 runners in some boroughs, and is asking sporting locals who may be considering running the event to become one of Mind’s 1 in 10 in their area. Some London Boroughs are already racing ahead, and Mind is Find out what's involvedkeen to get the spread from across the city before the last remaining places go. The deadline for Mind entrants is 27 August 2010.
TSign up to run the half marathon with Mind todayhe event, now in its third year, attracts up to 12,500 runners and fundraises for over 160 charities, last year raising more than £2.5million for good causes. One in four people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives, and Mind is aiming to make this World Mental Health Day one to remember by raising hundreds of thousands of pounds to help improve the lives of millions of people with mental health problems.
The half marathon also strikes a particular chord with mental health, as Mind has campaigned for a number of years on the benefits of 'green exercise' – that’s any physical activity in a green outdoor space – for tackling mental health problems and improving everyone’s mental wellbeing. Previous research by Mind has found that a single walk in a country park significant reduces feelings of depression and improves mood in up to 90 per cent of people.
The race, starting and finishing in Hyde Park, takes in four Royal Parks over 13.1 miles including St James’ Park, Kensington Gardens and Green Park, so participants can rest assured that as well as contributing to the lives of people with mental distress, they are doing something to improve their own wellbeing by getting active in some of the greenest spaces in London.
Mind Chief Executive Paul Farmer, our tenth runner in the Borough of Ealing, said:
The Royal Parks Half Marathon is the ultimate Londoner's event and we'd be delighted to get people from every part of London involved with Mind on this very special World Mental Health Day. We're aiming for 10 in every area but if we achieve more, we won't say no to the extra support. After decades of wondering where our runners get their energy from I've signed up myself and am proud to be the 10th runner in the London Borough of Ealing, although whether Ealing will be proud of me is another matter!
People run for Mind for all sorts of reasons, either to give something back to Mind for help they have received in the past, in memory of a loved one or because their lives have been touched by close friendships with those who experience mental distress. Whatever their reasons, all of our runners are heroes and I stand in awe of what our fundraisers achieve to help improve the lives of others.
