Sunday, the 25th May saw the return of the ‘Community Fun Run’, a unique community initiative that eventually involved eighteen Jewish community organisations. Logistically managed by Maccabi GB the following organisations were involved: Ben Uri Art Gallery, British ORT, Camp Simcha, The CST, Chai Cancer Care, Emunah, Jewish Care, JCD, Magen David Adom, Norwood, UJIA, World Jewish Relief, Jewish Women’s Aid, Jewish Blind and Disabled, The Jewish Chronicle, Tzedek and Tribe.
The sunny weather in the week leading up to the event turned out to be extremely misleading as we were greeted on the Sunday morning with torrential rain that showed no signs of letting up. Despite the treacherous conditions, the participants started arriving and there was a great atmosphere around the school’s grounds as the countdown to the start began. It was excellent to see ‘athletes’ of all ages and abilities and in an array of outfits turning up and taking their place at the starting line.
This year the runs were split into two with the 5km race starting an hour before the 10km run so as to avoid any confusion. With the 5km run set to start at 11.00, over 150 runners were at the start line and raring to go. After a quick warm up the runners were off and this year it was great to see that they all went the right way!
As the run was taking place, more people began to arrive as the Jewish Chronicle were holding their annual ‘Funday Extravaganza’ on the same site. Although this was supposed to be happening outside, due to the weather it had to be brought indoors but once again, spirits were not dampened and the community pulled together to ensure everything was in place.
The elite athlete’s started to cross the finish line after as little as 15 minutes and they were cheered down the home straight as all the spectators had gathered there to offer some encouragement. With all the 5km athletes safely over the line, albeit soaked to the skin, the 150 runners signed up for the 10km run took their place on the start line with the run starting at 12.30. Once again, there were some great times coming in as the elite athletes began to cross the line with barely 30 minutes on the clock.
There was a great sense of achievement for a lot of the runners as they had been training for the run for many weeks and had raised a lot of money for charity at the same time. All the charities are still receiving sponsorship money from their runners however the initial estimates are that more than £30,000 was raised between all the charities involved.
Site map | Manchester office | Terms and conditions | Your privacy
Magen David Adom UK, a company limited by guarantee (company number 5718138) whose registered office is at Shield House, Harmony Way, off Victoria Road, London, NW4 2BZ. Registered Charity Number: 1113409