Yesterday our amazing team of 60 rhino runners should have been charging through the streets of London for the London Marathon’s 40th race. While the race itself has been postponed until October, our runners didn’t let the lockdown stop them from coming together as a team to tackle different challenges all in the name of rhinos. Whilst we desperately wanted to cheer them on in person, we sent many virtual cheers and celebrated the team whilst they completed their varying challenges.
Our incredible runners took to their gardens, balconies and any space they could find to complete a range of activities all to represent the 26.2 miles that they would have normally been completing. And it’s fair to say they got creative! There were stair climbs, step counts, cycles, miles covered by roping in family members and even rhino cakes!
Duncan Deane and Michael Homem had been training together for the marathon so decided to stick with doing things together and both completed 26 reps of 26 different exercises in their homes. Chris Green climbed up and down his stairs 550 times (in costume!) to reach a very unusual-looking Kilimanjaro summit. Some of the team decided they didn’t want their training to go to waste and completed a full marathon in their gardens with a few even doing this in costume, or in Liz Winton’s case, a rhino onesie!
While the day might be over, the fun hasn’t stopped yet, as many of our runners are continuing their challenges throughout the next 26 days; David Tyrell will be completing a different activity each day for 26 days and next week Gillian Silverthorne will be running 26.2 miles around her patio! Our rhino runners really are an exceptional bunch!
The day didn’t only represent a huge milestone after all those long training runs, it has been incredible to see the response that our runners got from their family and friends as everyone lifted the team spirit and donated to support the runner’s brilliant efforts. So far the team has raised an amazing £40,595 and we can’t thank them enough for all their positivity and determination during such a difficult time.
As we all adapt to big changes and face new challenges, we’re also working to make sure our partners across the world have the support they need. Our programme partners in Africa and Asia are also worried about loved ones and making sure they have the essentials like hand sanitiser, while the impact of the sudden loss of tourism is having a huge impact on ranger salaries and future rhino conservation. More than ever before, they need your support to get through this crisis.
We’d love to see everyone get involved with a challenge just like our rhino runners team. You can join in by taking on the two point six challenge: do anything related to 2.6, 26, or 260! This virtual event was born after the Marathon was postponed, and is helping all charities in the UK. We all need a little pick me up right now, so do something great: help the UK’s charities and save the world’s rhinos!
If you would like to support our rhino runners, donate here.