Tonbridge 5k/10k/half marathon
Intro
On 29th September 2024 I headed to the Tonbridge 5k/10k/half marathon event where a LOT of good news was happening! I interviewed 9 individuals involved in the event and this is what I found out!
Charities
Lots of people were running to raise money for charities. Anthony Hammond was running for two! Demelza who support children and their families, and Tommy’s Baby Charity dedicated to saving babies’ lives. Anthony has been on a year long schedule of 10ks and half marathon runs which shows great dedication for these causes.
David Stent was running for Cats Protection, a leading cat welfare charity, having homed two cats from this charity.
I interviewed Karen Slade, who is head teacher of Slade Primary School. She was running for Victim Support, a charity that supports victims of crime and traumatic incidents, because one of her old students had sadly died as a result of knife crime. This is one of many examples of how ‘bad news’ can be turned into positive actions.
In fact, Marilyn from Cancer Research UK was there at a stand and told me that more than 20 runners had raised over £100,000 (!!!) in memory of Katya Batchelor who sadly passed away from bowel cancer earlier this year.
Challenge
Most of the interviewees also said they were motivated as a personal challenge.
Maria Briley (Pinky to those that know her) was inspired by watching last year’s runners while recovering from an operation and was motivated to enter this year’s 10K. Maria talked about a sense of achievement people can get by fulfilling the goals they set themselves.
Physical and Mental Health
Almost everyone mentioned the benefits of running and other physical activities for physical and mental health.
Sophie Playford mentioned that getting fit and keeping her mind healthy was a big reason for her to run, as well as having fun, running with others and challenging herself. On the physical health side, I actually interviewed Hayley and Laura who were on the Pure Endure stand, a company they started to ensure runners and those who take part in endurance activities are able to replenish their energy with natural ingredients rather than the usual energy gels which are often packed with chemicals. Good news indeed!
Community
Lastly, a number of people told me the benefit of this event is to bring people together in the community.
Double gold-medalist and Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes, who came along to open the races and give supportive advice to the runners, emphasized the importance of people coming together to support each other’s physical and mental health by running and challenging themselves.
Summary
My dad and I were very inspired by the effort, good will and positive atmosphere created by all the people at this running event. We think this is very good news indeed!
By Eleanor Bild (Ellie), yr 5