Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Students set to hit the Big Apple for one of the world’s largest marathons

by Ethos public relations

A group of 16 students at Loughborough University are in training for the world’s biggest marathon in New York this year.

The 16-strong group, from across the UK, including Derby, the West Midlands, Southampton and Chelmsford, will take part in the marathon on 7 November, to help raise funds for Action For Kids who support children and young people with physical and learning disabilities and their families across the country.

Sarah Greene, Events Fundraiser at Action for Kids, said: “It is fantastic to have the whole team of 16 running for us. They have all set themselves fundraising targets and hope to raise as much as £30,000 for the charity, which is brilliant! We are truly grateful to all the students taking part.”

The New York City Marathon is a major annual marathon with the course running through all five boroughs of New York City, and is one of the largest marathons in the world, with 43,659 finishers in 2009.

The marathon, organised by New York Road Runners (NYRR) has taken place every year since 1970. It is held on the first Sunday of November and attracts professional competitors and amateurs from all over the world. Because of the popularity of the race, participation is limited to 37,000 entrants chosen largely by a lottery system.

National charity Action For Kids, through its “Towards Independence” programmes, helps disabled children, young people and their families lead more independent lives through the provision of specialist services such as: training in independent living skills and work related learning; a family support service; a national help line and much more.

The charity also provides disabled young people, up to the age of 26, with specialist mobility equipment, and an on-going maintenance program to keep wheelchairs working.

The equipment, which is provided on a permanent loan scheme, means that Action for Kids covers the cost of maintaining and servicing the wheelchairs on an ongoing basis, removing a major financial burden from families, the maintenance scheme has also recently been extended to cover privately-owned wheelchairs.

To find out more about Action For Kids and its work, please click here.

To sponsor the Action for Kids runners in the New York Marathon, please visit this website.

And for more information about the New York Marathon, please click on this link.

Posted at 11^th March 2010