CAFOD at the Great North Run
The Great North Run is the world’s largest half-marathon, with over 55,000 participants taking part in the race on September 11th, 2022. Nine amazing CAFOD runners entered the event, raising money for our work overseas, while Grace Cowley and Hannah Patterson from CAFOD came along to the race to cheer them on!
It was an amazing day! All nine CAFOD runners completed the half marathon, and they raised nearly £5,000 for CAFOD’s work around the world.
CAFOD sends our biggest ‘congratulations’ to these runners and our sincerest ‘thank you’!
Just before the race, one of the runners for CAFOD, Rachel, explained her motivation for entering the Great North Run, despite never lining up for races in the past:
“As a parent and a teacher, I need to lead by example and do things that challenge me! I am hoping to show my pupils that just because something feels impossible, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t give it a go!”.
To some, however, this race took on a whole new meaning following the death of HRH Queen Elizabeth II just three days before the half-marathon. One of our runners, Lambert, explained how running for CAFOD allowed them to celebrate the life of the Queen:
“She has been a patron to hundreds of charities, and it is only a fitting tribute to our Queen that we continue with charitable donations and help the charities to serve the needs of the many! This makes the Great North Run a historical moment and I feel very privileged to take part in the half-marathon and support the mission of CAFOD.”
He continues:
“Everyone, everywhere, has rights to live peacefully and have all their basic needs met! It’s high time that we now turn our attention to those in need.”
If you would like to follow in Rachel or Lamberts footsteps and run for CAFOD, please click below:
Grace, one of the supporters who came to the Great North Run to cheer on the CAFOD runners, shared her experience after watching the race:
“It was exhilarating to see the CAFOD runners and cheer them on and to see them respond to our cheering! All in all, it was very rewarding!”
If you’ve taken part in any events we’d love to hear how it went, and to see any pictures. Please email us at events@cafod.org.uk. We have runners in the London Marathon and Royal Parks Half Marathon, which are coming up, so look out for a blog about their adventures too.