The Run Geordie Run AROUND THE WORLD BALL - Book here

I'm pleased to announce that tickets are now on sale for the Run Geordie Run "Around The World" Ball. The fundraiser, in aid of The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and The Children's Foundation, will take place at The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle on October 10th 2015.

The ball will be hosted by radio's Sony Gold Award winning duo Gary and Lisa and musical entertainment will be provided by the superb party band; "Tiny Afro". There will be the usual host of games, raffles and auctions. Although many of them with a twist and not your usual charity ball fare. Previous attendees will know that the quality of the food at The Biscuit Factory is second to none and we are working on a unique "Around The World" themed menu.

A limited number of tickets are available now at £45 each or £400 for a table of 10. Once these are sold, the price will revert to £55 each or £500 for a table of 10.

The last Run Geordie Run charity ball in 2011 was a complete sell out so please act quick to take advantage of the cheaper ticket price and to avoid "massive disappointment".

If you would like to attend, then please download, print and complete the ticket application postal form here or fill in an online form here.

Run Geordie Run NEEDS YOU....in Europe!

Unfinished business

Regular followers of Run Geordie Run will need no reminding of how and why I came to be a fundraiser. It all started in 1994 doing the Great North Run in aid of St. Benedict's Hospice. The staff at the Hospice cared for my Mam during her final days battling cancer. 

In 2009, I decided to fundraise for a local children's charity. There are so many brilliant ones in the region but it was The Children's Foundation that was chosen for their broad range of projects and the amount of children that the money reached.

In 2012, after 18 years of fundraising for St. Benedict's Hospice, I decided to switch my fundraising attentions from palliative care of terminally ill people that the Hospice provides to a charity that funds treatment and research; The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. You can read more about that decision here.

I recently totalled up how much I'd raised for the 3 charities (plus a small amount for NECCR in 1995). The amounts, as a result of so much public generosity, are as follows:

St. Benedict's Hospice - £99,421.91

The Children's Foundation - £92,311.65

The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation - £31,507.24

North of England Children's Cancer Research - £250

I make no apologies for constantly talking about amounts raised. That cash is the ultimate fuel for my running feet. The opportunity to raise those funds for such wonderful charities has made coping with the death of my parents more bearable. When I announced details of the Run Around The World last year I said the following when talking about the pain of grief "Thankfully, through fundraising, I have found a way to control and even some days numb the pain. There is no doubt in my mind that raising funds for such good causes as The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and The Children’s Foundation has been as beneficial to me as it has to them and the beneficiaries of their charitable good deeds.".

Anyway, back to the main point of this blog post. You'll notice that the amount raised for St. Benedict's is just short of £100,000. It's a mere £578.09 away from that 6 figure sum. That, dear readers, is what I like to call "unfinished business".

In an attempt to try and break through the £100,000 barrier for the Hospice I'll be running the Virgin London Marathon in April. I'll be calling it my 100,000 Challenge.

The London Marathon is a tough event and I want to do the Hospice proud in memory of my Mam and Dad. With a bit of luck and the continued generosity of so many kind people I'm sure it will be a success.

If you would like to sponsor the 100,000 challenge then please do so at my Virgin Money Giving Page here. 

Support through Europe

Thank you to everyone who has applied to join the Europe 2016 Support Team. I've been pleasantly surprised with the quality of applicants so far and I'm hopeful of having a really strong team to support the run through Europe in 2016.

As you can see from the map below, there are a lot of miles to cover. The route from Lisbon to Istanbul is a whopping 3,580 miles. It's going to take just 100 days to complete. That's the same time it took to run across the USA in 2011 and 480 miles more!

In order to complete this run successfully, not only do I need to perform to the best of my ability but everyone on the support team does too. There can be no weak links in the team. That's why we'll be taking only the best possible people on this trip of a lifetime.

   

The closing date for applications is 31st March 2015. An open evening and interviews will be held at my sponsor SOS Group's HQ in Team Valley, Gateshead in April 2015.  Please apply, in the first instance, using the form below.  

Apply for the Run Geordie Run 2016 Support Team

Run Geordie Run needs you! It's time to start recruiting those highly skilled volunteers that will ensure the 3,580 mile route from Lisbon to Istanbul is a success for the runner, The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and The Children's Foundation.

The team is currently 4 strong. Another 10 people are needed to be on the team for at least a week next year during the run through Europe.

Being a member of the Run Geordie Run Support Team is one of the most difficult and rewarding jobs there is..... or so any previous member of the team often tells me. Driving a large Motor Home (the one we had in the USA is pictured below), ensuring that, as the support nerve centre, it is functioning at the optimum level at all times, is just one of many tasks that needs to be undertaken.

Take a deep breath before reading the next sentence! Ensuring the safety of the runner, cooking, cleaning, identifying safe overnight stops, liaising with local police (inevitably a motor home in the middle of nowhere can be seemed as suspicious!), spreading the word about the run to passers by, not getting lost, ensuring that the route is safe depending on changing conditions and coming up with quick and effective solutions to whatever problem or hindrance occurs are just the tip of the iceberg when talking about support team duties. Support man Steve Harrison is pictured below driving in the USA.

Speaking any language that is used in Portugal, Spain, Andorra, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Solvenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece or Turkey would be a huge asset to the support team. The current team members are learning a few basic relevant phrases to be used throughout the route. There will also be multi lingual leaflets to hand out to passers by on the route.

Motivating the runner throughout all of the ups and downs of a 3,580 mile route, driving safely through mountainous regions and occasionally accompanying the runner will be important tasks too.

Support man Mark Fleming and myself are pictured below on day 67 of the run across the USA. That road is the 1000 mile long Route 36 from Denver to Indianapolis.

The image below is Carlton emptying the motor home waste tank in the USA (that's his speciality skill by the way!!!!!).

Here is another image of support man Carlton. This time he's preparing an energetic snack during the run across Australia.

The above images and text will hopefully give you a very brief idea of what being on the support team involves.

If you would like to apply to be on the team for the European segment of the run Around The World in May to August 2016 then please fill out the form at the end of this blog post.

A selection of applicants will be invited to attend an open evening at my sponsor, SOS Group's HQ in Team Valley Gateshead in March 2015. It is this event where more detail about the day to day duties will be discussed. There will be a casual interview conducted and successful applicants will then return for a final interview in April 2015.

Good luck and thanks in advance if you're taking the time to apply for "one of the most difficult and rewarding jobs going.".

The Around The World Ball

Following the huge success of the Run Geordie Run USA Ball in 2011 (over £10,000 was raised for the 2 charities) it has been decided to host a similar event in 2015.

The AROUND THE WORLD BALL will be held in Newcastle at the Biscuit Factory on October 10th 2015.

If you would like to be kept informed as to when tickets go on sale in the next few months  then please fill in the form below.