5:40am Monday 22nd March 2010
By James Connell
CHILDREN as young as four were among the hundreds of people across Worcestershire to run, hop or walk a mile to help raise thousands of pounds for Sport Relief.
Four-year-old William Marshall, who was dressed as his TV hero Sportacus, joined 400 others to run the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile at Perdiswell Leisure Centre in Worcester yesterday.
William, running on behalf of Norton Pre-school, ran the mile with his 33-year-old mum Sarah Marshall and his grandmother, 57-year-old Susan Cotterill, and has already raised more than £200 for Sport Relief.
Mrs Marshall said: “We’re going to try and run but also skip, jump, hop and whatever we can do in between.”
Another youngster who was keen to get out of the starting blocks was four-year-old James Kitchener, whose parents Steve and Shaylene run the Saracen’s Head pub in The Tything, Worcester.
James ran the mile with his grandparents, Robert, aged 63, and Janet, 57, of Link Top in Malvern.
Mrs Kitchener said: “James said, ‘I want to give money to poor children. I’m going to run the mile and I want some shoes like my granddad’. He has already been around Worcester Racecourse a couple of times. He loves running.”
During the warm-up the crowds were entertained by the Worcester Concert Brass Band.
Enterprising Cian Macgabhann, six, of Henwick Road, St John’s, Worcester, made the most of his dad Barry’s 50th birthday party by collecting £70 from partygoers. He ran the mile with his dad and mum Helen Sherratt, 43.
Mr Macgabhann said: “Cian just told us we had to do it. We didn’t have any choice.”
Simon Jobson, 39, of St Peter’s Worcester, ran the mile with daughter Lucy, 11, and son Harry, nine.
He said: “It’s a very good cause and we decided to run as a family.” Although Sport Relief is not a competition and people can walk, run, skip or jump across the line, the first person to finish was 12-year-old Joseph Whiteman, of Sinton Green, near Worcester, a pupil at the Chantry High School in Martley.
Joseph, who raised £80, said: “It’s to raise money for people who are poor and it’s nice just to raise money so people can live lives like us.”
Lynne Thompson, manager of Leisure Connection, which runs Perdiswell Leisure Centre, said the event – with the £5 entry fee – would raise at least £2,000 but people had been raising individual sums as well.
There were 250 entries at the Sport Relief Mile in Cripplegate Park, organised by the Friends of Cripplegate Park and Worcester City Council.
It cost £1 to enter but Linda Sammonds, secretary of the Friends, said: “We’re very pleased with the take-up and delighted with the generosity of people paying more than they have to because it’s such a good cause. Two boys have been around twice and a couple of girls are about to go around the course a second time.” All 12 teams at Nunnery Wood Colts Football Club, which includes youngsters between the ages of eight and 16, took part in the Sport Relief Mile by running it as a warm-up at their training sessions on the astroturf pitches at the University of Worcester on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Younger members of the club who were not able to run the full mile were still able to take part via relay-style shuttle runs.
Nigel Upson, charities co-ordinator for the club and a coach himself, said he expected the club would raise at least £500 with some members bringing in extra money through their own fund-raising initiatives.
He said: “A small amount of money can have a huge effect on someone’s life and can make a huge difference to them.”
The Droitwich Rugby Mile had about 136 registered entries but 70 more people joined on the day.
More than £29 million has been raised for Sport Relief across the country so far.
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