Sunday 7 July 2024
USA 2025 - Further Kit Sponsors Added
Beyond Mount Everest - DONE
Thursday 30 May 2024
USA 2025 Kit Sponsorship Available
The 3150 mile coast to coast run across the USA from Coney Island, New York to Huntington Beach, California is just 11 months from getting underway. It will take an unprecedented level of effort (and good luck) to get across the continent in just 100 days.
With a fundraising target of at least £60,000 for St. Benedict's Hospice (Charity No. 1019410) an event of this magnitude requires a huge amount of kind support.
The long term partnership with Chapman Ventilation saw them confirmed as main kit sponsors last year. I'm also very grateful to cable management firm D-Line for their backing as sleeve sponsor.
There are still prime spots up for grabs on my USA 2025 running kit.
What parts of USA 2025 running kit are available for sponsorship?
There are two spaces available for sponsor's logos on the front of my shirt and a one on the back.
To accommodate different budgets, kit sponsorship is available in blocks of 10 days. The run across the USA will take 100 days to complete, therefore there are 10 blocks available in total. It is entirely possible for any individual company to take as many blocks as required. If a company wanted their logo on the back of my running kit for 20 days, for example, that would cost £2000.
USA 2025 - Final support team vacancies available?
- 14th May 2025 to 27th June 2025 - Wheeling, West Virginia to Walsenburg, Colorado.
- 25th July 2025 to 1st August 2025 - Las Vegas, Nevada to Olancha, California via Death Valley. Only people who will be able to fulfil support team duties in extreme temperatures will be suitable for this section.
- The aim is to have 2 people on the support team at any one time.
- Daily duties include driving a motor home, cooking (mainly porridge and omelettes), motorhome admin (such as emptying waste, filling water and fuel) and that's pretty much the basic requirement.
- All support team crew are unpaid volunteers like myself. We have retired police officers, a software developer, a retired banker, a B&B owner and a business owner among our ranks already. The ages range from 40 - 67 currently.
- Support team crew are responsible for getting to the point of the run when needed and meeting up with the motorhome. For some this is straight forward (for example one lady is leaving at Indianapolis very close to the airport. One man is taking a 2 hour bus journey to Pittsburgh to fly out of there. The not so straight forward examples are where one man flies into Las Vegas, hires a car, drives 200 miles to join the tour (due to poor transport links) and gives the hire car to the outgoing support team to return to Las Vegas and fly out of there.
- Overnight parking spots vary from RV parks (for which there is very limited budget) to Walmart parking lots to spaces at the side of the road.
- The first gap in the rota is through the American Mid West. There are many minor roads. We are expecting low volumes of traffic and the driving should be quite straightforward.
- Once the team are in the motorhome the only expenses you'll incur are your own food requirements. There is no charge for staying in the motorhome. That's obvious to me but not to everyone and is worth stating.
- A typical day starts at 0600 - 0630 for porridge. Once I set off running then the motorhome will drive to a meeting point ahead on the route. The number of stops will vary. The running day is usually split into two sections with lunch in the middle (and usually a sleep for me). The aim is to finish running, update the blog, edit and upload video and be asleep by 2200 ready to do it all over again.
- We don't allow the consumption of alcohol while on the tour.
- A detailed route plan is available now. I'm adding various data to it constantly such as suggested overnight stops, RV waste dump locations, supermarkets etc.
- The only age restriction is to be 21 to 72 for motorhome insurance purposes.
- The current team are committing between 2 and 4 weeks on the tour.
- We have a support team Whatsapp channel for questions and knowledge sharing. We will be holding an online support team meeting in June for the first time with plans for at least 2 more before the run starts to talk through plans, answer questions etc.
- There are opportunities to join me running if you so wish.
Wednesday 29 May 2024
3150 miles across the USA - May Progress Update
The 3150 mile coast to coast run across the USA from Coney Island, New York to Huntington Beach California is scheduled to take place starting on May 1st 2025 and finish 100 days later on August 8th 2025. Planning and preparation for the challenge has seen some excellent progress made so far this year. There is still a lot to organise and plan and also plenty of support to find if the £60,000 fundraising target is hit for St. Benedict's Hospice.
The debt of gratitude that I feel towards the Hospice is as strong now as it was back in 1995 when my Mam spent her final weeks in their care. It should come as no surprise to any followers of Run Geordie Run that I'm as determined as ever to make the next big run a huge success.
The 3150 mile route will arguably be the toughest run I've ever done. It is extreme in every way imaginable. 100 consecutive days of running ultra marathons will make for quite a spectacle.
There is so much progress to report and it's hard to do it justice in a blog post on this site. That said, the following is a short summary of where I'm currently at with some of the most important aspects.
FUNDRAISING
At the time of writing, despite the run being quite some time away, £6215 has been donated direct to St. Benedict's Hospice via Justgiving. There is also a further £3000 in the pipeline for the Hospice.
I have set a target of £60,000 for this run. With 337 days to go and 15% of that achieved already, it's safe to say that this is an encouraging start from a fundraising point of view. A huge thank you to everyone who has already made a donation via Justgiving.
Prior to the main event in 2025, I have a few other fundraising irons in the fire such as a 40,000ft climb using at David Fairlamb Fitness at the end of June. Using one of my favourite and challenging machines, the VersaClimber, I will climb the equivalent of sea level up to the summit of Mount Everest. That's a distance of 29,029 ft (8848m). It doesn't stop there, however. Since it's St. Benedict's Hospice's 40th birthday, it seems "sensible" to push on and climb tp 40,000ft. I expect this to take between 10 and 13 hours.
In terms of other fundraising ideas, I'm hoping that a surplus of commercial funds can be found. They will be used to produce some Run Geordie Run USA 2025 t-shirts which will be made available to buy. Over £30,000 has been raised following Run Geordie Run t-shirt sales over the years. Newcastle United even warmed up in then once.
COMMERCIAL BACKING
I was so grateful that long term supporter Chapman Ventilation offered to become my main sponsor. You can trace their kind support back to 2011. Without their help, the current overall charity total of £351,984.67 would not have been achievable.
Another long term sponsor, D-Line, were also kind enough to continue their backing. Again, without their help, the charity fund would not be what it currently is.
The search continues for the remaining kit sponsors to fill the slots on my USA 2025 running kit. As you can see below, there is still room on the prime positions. Please get in touch at sponsorship@rungeordierun.com if you're interested in having your logo on my USA 2025 running kit.
TRAINING
There has been a further increase in training load recently. Regular Sunday runs are now well established and I continue to work hard at David Fairlamb Fitness as well as at my own home gym.
I'm build the weekly mileage steadily. The next big test will be a 105 mile run from my home in Bedlington to Edinburgh. That will be done during the first weekend in August.
LEAFLET
The search is on to find a company who can print one of the most important fundraising tools that I have. Leaflets, such as the one that I designed for the USA 2025 run, have proved to be hugely important in the past. I meet a lot of people during my day to day life as well as the big event itself. Leaving them with a leaflet containing all of the relevant information really helps to get the message across and attract donations.
SUMMARY
USA 2025 is all consuming for me. I'm doing everything that I possibly can to make the run a success for St. Benedict's Hospice.
As ever, if you feel that you can help with any aspect then please do get in touch at sponsorship@rungeordierun.com.
Your kind donations to St. Benedict's Hospice (Charity No. 1019410) can always be made and gratefully received at https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun2025.
Monday 8 April 2024
3150 miles across the USA - April Progress Update
The 3150 mile coast to coast run across the USA from Coney Island, New York to Huntington Beach California is scheduled to take place starting on May 1st 2025 and finish 100 days later on August 8th 2025. Planning and preparation for the run is gaining more and more momentum as the weeks go by. Other than work, watching football and taking the dog for a walk, my days are stuffed to the brim with all things associated with the run.
With the planning of this campaign, there is a familiar sense of anticipation and the organisation that accompanies it. I suppose that's only natural given that USA 2025 is the sixth major initiative I have undertaken. Despite the uniqueness of each of my running projects, I have a comforting familiarity when navigating the logistics, assembling the support team, planning the route, searching for sponsors and so on. In turn, this familiarity breeds confidence and gives me the reassurance that I'm doing things bigger and better than ever before.
The run across the USA is hugely ambitious in itself. My plans to engage people and take them virtually "on the journey" must match that effort if I'm to maximise this opportunity for St. Benedict's Hospice.
There is so much progress to report and it's hard to do it justice in a blog post on this site. That said, the following is a short summary of where I'm currently at with seven of the most important aspects.
FUNDRAISING
At the time of writing, despite the run being quite some time away, £6125 has been donated direct to St. Benedict's Hospice via Justgiving. There is also a further £3000 in the pipeline for the Hospice.
I have set a target of £60,000 for this run. With 388 days to go and 15% of that achieved already, it's safe to say that this is an encouraging start from a fundraising point of view. A huge thank you to everyone who has already made a donation via Justgiving.
COMMERCIAL BACKING
I was so grateful that long term supporter Chapman Ventilation offered to become my main sponsor. You can trace their kind support back to 2011. Without their help, the current overall charity total of £351,894.67 would not have been achievable.
Another long term sponsor, D-Line, were also kind enough to continue their backing. Again, without their help, the charity fund would not be what it currently is.
The search is now on for the remaining kit sponsors to fill the slots on my USA 2025 running kit. The full sponsorship prospectus is available here.
I agreed a period of "unpaid special leave" recently with my current employer to enable me to run across the USA. In the past, I've essentially quit my job to do these major runs in the hope that I'd find work when I returned. It gives me a huge peace of mind to have a job to return to.
TRAINING
There has been an increase in training load recently. Whether that's at the gym twice a week with David Fairlamb or running around the local roads. I estimate that I'm probably 15% of where I need to be in order to start the run across the USA.
Getting the balance of training and organisation of the run right has always been a challenge. The USA 2025 campaign promises to be no different. It's safe to say that the next few months are of huge importance. I anticipate this year's summer holiday will be spent running. I've started looking for cheap, uncomfortably warm destinations to accommodate this.
LEAFLET
Once the all important final sponsors have been found then they can be added to the tri-fold leaflet that I recently completed the design of. This contains all of the relevant information about the run across the USA including my background, reasons for running, how to donate and a detailed map of the route.
This type of leaflet has served me very well in the past. Particularly, when I don't have a huge amount of time to explain to someone what I'm doing in great detail. I'm currently searching for a kind printing company who can produce a few for me.
SUMMARY
As you can no doubt tell, these is plenty of work going on to make the run across the USA a huge success.I'll talk more about progress in a similar post next month. No doubt, social media, online content, merchandising, the USA 2025 companion guide to name but a few things, will get a mention. Hopefully, finding the remaining commercial sponsors and support team will have made good progress too.
As ever, if you feel that you can help with any aspect then please do get in touch at sponsorship@rungeordierun.com.
Your kind donations to St. Benedict's Hospice (Charity No. 1019410) can always be made and gratefully received at https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun2025.