Shell staff shell out for ReachOut

On the morning of Saturday 19 October, a team of nine people from Shell took part in the Richmond Riverside 10K for ReachOut. The race saw runners sprinting along the banks of the Thames between Kingston and Richmond, the route of which took runners through the beautiful, rural surroundings of south west London.

Even though the skies were grey and grim, our brilliant runners were cheerful from the start to the finish line (though within seconds of the words ‘On Your Marks, Get Set, GO!’ they were all caked with mud from the soggy track!)

Several ReachOut staff as well as colleagues from Shell came down to Richmond to cheer on the runners as they sprinted by. Waving and clapping, the onlookers gave the runners an added boost and stayed to meet them all at the end with bottles of water and packets of biscuits to help them replenish all of the energy spent racing each other to the finish!

Between them, our runners raised a fantastic £1,553.73 for ReachOut, hugely impressive given that they only started fundraising two weeks before the event! However, this total is made all the more impressive when you consider that £100 will pay for the resources to mentor 10 young people at the ReachOut Club, our one-to-one mentoring programme for young people aged 10-11. Very well done, Team Shell!

Liam, Vanisha, Dmitry, Ken, Allan, Robert, Rich, Alan & Shane – you’re all fantastic! Thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication. See you again next year, yeah? 

By Luke Ounsworth

If you're interested in taking part in an event for ReachOut please contact luke.ounsworth@reachoutuk.org or visit our website.

Runners take to the streets for ReachOut in Royal Parks Half Marathon

On Sunday 6 October, 6 brilliant ReachOut supporters donned their running vests and trainers and took part in the Royal Parks Half Marathon, a 13-mile endurance race through Central London.

Our wonderful new vests! (Photo: http://sohfree.com/)

Despite gloomy forecasts, the weather on the morning of the race was spectacular and our runners were in high spirits as they took to the streets of the capital to raise money for ReachOut. The route of the race took our runners through some of the most beautiful surroundings which London has to offer, including Hyde Park, St. James’ Park and Westminster.

A grand total of 16,000 people took part in the race for various different local, national and international charities so it was great to see the ReachOut logo running alongside the likes of Oxfam, Cancer Research UK and Macmillan.

Our runners were among the best in the race, one of whom achieved a new personal best of 1hr 39mins! (Congratulations Paul!)

Emily and Sohko at the finish line! (Photo: http://sohfree.com/)

So far, our wonderful runners have raised over £3,000 for ReachOut. This is a truly fantastic total, especially when you consider that just £10 is enough to provide all of the resources to mentor one young person for an entire year at the ReachOut Club, a one-to-one mentoring project for primary school pupils!

Paul, Neshaat, Sohko, Emily, Rachael and Bradley – you’re all superstars! Thank you again for all of our hard work and determination. We hope your legs weren’t too sore on Monday morning!

If you're interested in taking part in an event for ReachOut please contact luke.ounsworth@reachoutuk.org or visit our website.

Luke Ounsworth