The boss of a leading regional house builder is taking on one of his toughest challenges yet to raise cash for charity.
Persimmon Homes West Yorkshire’s Managing Director Wayne Gradwell will run the Yorkshire Marathon in October to raise cash for Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.
And the York event represents new ground for Wayne, who has only ever run half marathons in the past.
Wayne said he was now in full training for the 26-mile challenge and could not wait to take his place on the start line on October 20th.
“Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice is our nominated charity for this year and I thought it would be a really good idea to combine my own personal challenge with helping raise more money for the hospice.
“I have not run a full marathon before so it is a bit of a step into the unknown, but knowing I am raising money for such a worthwhile cause will undoubtedly help keep me going when it starts to get tough.”
Wayne said company colleagues had staged a series of fundraising events already this year for the charity and he was delighted to be helping out.
“The whole fundraising year so far has been absolutely amazing, with staff and colleagues all doing their bit to raise as much money as possible. I just want to carry that on and do what I can to support the hospice.”
Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice was launched over twelve years ago by a mother whose son required hospice care. It has a brand new hospice building, Russell House in Huddersfield and also operates a hospice-at-home service to support more than 50 children with life limiting conditions and their families.
Kate Goldring, Partnership Development Manager at the charity commented: “The support from Persimmon has been overwhelming. Already they have donated £11,000 to our special cause. Wayne’s efforts will add to this and we will be cheering him on all the way!
“The support we receive from partners like Persimmon is vital and we hope that Wayne and the team will inspire a few more people to get in touch. With a £2.5m fundraising target each year we have a big challenge ahead, but with such great support from the business community we are in great company.”
More than 6,000 runners will take to the streets of York for this year’s Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon, being staged by a new organisation under the Jane Tomlinson events umbrella – the legacy of the late Yorkshire fundraiser and campaigner who raised almost two million pounds for charity by tackling a series of endurance challenges, despite being diagnosed with incurable cancer.
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