Well, that’s it - we have officially completed our #UniRun challenge! Across the past six weeks, five trustees of the UniBrass Foundation have each run the 176km from Bangor to Sheffield to raise much needed funds for the charity.
It was an utterly terrifying challenge, given that most of us had little running experience, and it definitely got much harder as the days got darker, colder, and often covered in snow! But we did it. We learnt a lot about ourselves too: Brett had the most consistent approach running every day but Andy B had the fastest pace, Andy S and Thomas really built their distance running skills with some lengthy 10km+ runs and even half marathons, and Abi recovered from a knee injury to build up her running again.
To date we’ve raised £1680 (including Gift Aid) to support the work of UniBrass in 2021. Thank you to everyone who has followed our journey. We thought the best way to end was with a little message from all of our runners.
Brett: “I have found the UniRun challenge a great motivator towards doing further distances at a faster pace. I aim to continue this daily running routine as much as possible. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, I must admit I'm a little worried as to whatever the next fundraiser may be for 2021.”
Thomas: “If you asked me to sum up the challenge in one sentence, it would have to be ‘Much tougher than expected’. I did not anticipate how difficult it would be to keep running with your legs feeling tired before you even started a run. Definitely feels like a huge achievement to have finished though, and I’m blown away by the support everyone has given us - thank you all!”
Andy S: “Back in November, this seemed like a bad idea, and that’s certainly proven to be correct, at least in the view of my knees - however I’m delighted with the amount we’ve raised so thank you to every single one of our supporters - it’s almost made it worth the suffering…. almost.”
Andy B: “Turns out taking on a challenge like this when you have no previous running experience wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I've had a few dodgy knees and calves along the way but it's been great to have something to drive me to get fit again. I'm so proud of what the team has done and so grateful for everyone supporting us in this challenge, thank you all so much!”
Abi: “I can’t quite believe the challenge is over! It’s been really tough, but also really wonderful to have something to work towards as a team. I would almost say it’s been fun.. Bring on 2021 and more adventures for UniBrass!”
If you’d like to support UniBrass in our final push to raise over £2000, you can donate at unib.co.uk/run
If you want to see more of our running endeavours, and see all the latest news from UniBrass, make sure to follow us on social media @UniBrass.