Going for a stroll. A quintessentially British past time. The locations of choice for many an ardent perambulator include grassy knolls, wooded grottoes, and soft sandy beaches, but you'd be hard pushed to find anyone advocating inner city Manchester as a place to promenade... Unless it was March 1st of course!
For those of you that don't know, the Bogle is a grueling 55 mile or 26 mile stroll around Greater Manchester organized by Manchester RAG. Participants raise money for their chosen charity and (if they do the full 55 miles) walk in a figure of 8 that takes them as far as Farnworth at one end, and Manchester Airport at the other . It typically takes the average participant between 15 and 20 hours to complete (or 8-10 for the 26 mile); that's no mean feat I think you'll agree!
Our own Andy Milne took part last year. After coming home exhausted and blistered he vowed never again to shun public transport in place of walking again. In lieu of Andy's heroics this year, ReachOut! volunteer Alysha Alauddin Onn took up his mantle and set out to tackle the punishing route with a group of friends from the Malaysian students society. Here is what she had to say about the experience.
My recommendation: Don't sleep in. Get
up and go Bogle because it's just one of those things you have to do."
Alysha and her friends completed the stroll in just under 10 hours and raised around £200 for the charity.
"One Saturday morning, I did not sleep in. That was the
precursor to my Bogle experience. Bleak as it sounds, I had a sense of purpose:
to walk 26 miles for ReachOut.
Luck was on my side as it turned out to be a beautiful day
and I managed to do the walk relatively stress free (except for the time when I
really needed to go to the loo and walked 3 miles to get there). The one thing
I'd recommend is to bring a pack of friends, if only for their exceptional
navigational skills and your lack of it. In my case, they offered endless
motivation (mostly because I really didn't want to seem like a huge wimp) and
staved off my boredom.
So thank you MSSM (Malaysian Students' Society of
Manchester) for lending me such a wonderful experience. Especially the weird
experience of overcoming mind numbing pain to sprint to the finish line whilst
belting out the Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
Alysha and her friends completed the stroll in just under 10 hours and raised around £200 for the charity.
Here at ReachOut! we recognize the determination and hard work that goes into accomplishing tasks such as this. We are supremely proud of Alysha and her friends for raising the money for us. Well done and thanks guys!
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