Because race cancellations won't stop us runners doing what we love
With races like the London Landmarks Half Marathon being cancelled around the globe at the moment, the need to find new and interesting ways to stay fit and active is becoming increasingly important.
The team at Tommy’s, the charity that runs the London Landmarks race, have launched a new solo challenge – The Local Landmarks Challenge.
The virtual solo run event aims to focus on those landmarks that are important to individual runners, whether that’s your local church, your most frequented park or a well-loved statue or town museum. All you need to do is sign up and start celebrating ‘The Grand. The Quirky. The Hidden’.
By running a course of 5k, 10k or 13.1 miles and tracking your route around you chosen landmarks, Tommy’s aims to ensure that it can raise the fundraising money originally targeted through the London Landmarks Half Marathon.
As well as putting all of their training to good use with a new challenge, runners who take part in the challenge will also receive an exclusive medal.
If you were already signed up to do the London Landmarks race, all you need to do is sign up, run your solo challenge, raise money for your charity (if you chose to do so), record your route on Strava or Garmin etc, and submit a picture of your tracked run.
If you weren’t already signed up you’ll need to pay an entry fee of £12, all the profits of which will be donated to baby charity Tommy’s to fund their pioneering research to save babies’ lives.
Lia Fyles, Race Director said; “We have been overwhelmed by the response of our runners, our loyal Yellow Army, to the event not going ahead as planned on the 29th March. They have all trained and fundraised so hard in preparation and many are continuing to do so. We may not all be able to run together on the 29th March, but what their response has shown is that the running community has the power to make a huge difference for many charities, as we individually take to our local streets and run our personal Local Landmarks Challenge.”
Lia adds: “Current public health advice is that people are able to run solo outside, and people are encouraged to keep exercising regularly. We hope the Local Landmarks Challenge will help provide both physical and mental wellbeing benefits. In a time of great uncertainty and increased isolation, we hope this will be a great way for people to support each other and feel connected virtually. If current Public Health guidelines change, the challenge will naturally be paused and only re-opened once it’s safe to do so.”
To find out more and to register for the Local Landmarks Challenge click here.