Andy Clow, Chief Executive of The Youth Association, will be trying to run 50 miles around his home town of Rotherham on Saturday 15th October, to raise money for local young people and to raise awareness of the hard times that youth work charities are going through.
Andy (aged 45) will be starting in the 29th running of Rowbotham’s Round Rotherham Race. The annual event, organised by Rotherham Harriers athletic club, is widely regarded as one of the toughest ultramarathons in the country, and covers a gruelling 50 mile course around the edges of the borough.
Andy hopes to raise £1000 to buy camping equipment to enable some of the region’s most disadvantaged children and young people to experience the great outdoors.
Although he has been running for over 15 years, this is the first time he has ever attempted anything like this distance. Andy said, ‘I’ve been preparing for this race for 6 months and I’ve been past 30 miles in training. Thinking about how hard that was, I can’t imagine what I’ll feel like after 50 miles.’ He added, ‘I’ve run round the whole course in stages now, so I’m hoping I won’t get lost. I wouldn’t want to add any more miles by going the wrong way.’
Like many charities, the Youth Association was one of the first organisations to suffer because of government spending cuts. Andy said, ‘Last year was one of the toughest in our long history and we had to make a lot of good youth workers redundant. David Cameron says that charities like ours are vital if we want to give local kids help and hope, but he doesn’t seem to realise how many charities are going to the wall because of the cuts.’ He added, ‘This race sums up our outlook for the future. We know it will take everything we’ve got, but we’re determined to give it our best shot.’
If people want to sponsor Andy’s big run, they can donate online at www.justgiving.com/Plot28 or they can text a £1 donation by sending the message ABCD19 £1 to 70070.
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