Ethos Public Relations Manchester

West Midlands hopeful to hit the Big Apple for one of the world’s largest marathons

by Ethos public relations

A 23-year old from Walsall is in training for the world’s biggest marathon in New York this year to help raise money for national charity Action For Kids.

Nicola Gerrett, who is a PhD Researcher of Environmental Ergonomics at Loughborough University, is one of 20 runners taking part in the marathon on 7 November to help raise funds for the charity which supports children, young people and their families with physical and learning disabilities across the country.

“I have done half marathons in the past so this year I set myself the challenge of completing a full marathon which is how I came across Action For Kids,” Nicola said.

“This is a personal challenge I can achieve if I put my mind to it and I plan to start training six months before going to New York.

“I need to raise £1,500 to take part and anything above that will be a bonus, especially as it is for a charitable cause, and I want to finish the marathon in less than four hours.”

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.

Sarah Greene, Events Fundraiser at Action for Kids, said: “It is fantastic to have Nicola and the whole team 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 everyone who is taking part.”

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 sponsor Nicola, please visit her personal sponsorship page at www.justgiving.com/Nicola-Gerrett.

To sponsor the Action for Kids runners in the New York Marathon, please visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Newyorkrunners.

And for more information about the New York Marathon, please visit www.nycmarathon.org.

Posted at 14^th May 2010