Marathon challenge for Children's Hospice South West

Around 45 colleagues at Coastline Housing in Redruth have raised over £4,200 for Children’s Hospice South West in a 26-hour marathon challenge.

Staff at the Cornish housing charity wanted to do something extra special to raise money this year so decided to undertake a round-the-clock challenge.

In teams, they had to make sure at least one member was on the one mile course near Coastline House at all times from midday Wednesday to 2:20pm on Thursday. They covered a combined distance of 1,583 miles - that's nearly the same as heading to John O'Groats and back.

While colleagues were walking, running and cycling the route continuously, CEO Allister Young was taking on an extra endurance challenge inside Coastline House cycling up the height of Mount Everest on a turbo trainer. It took him almost 18 hours of intense cycling to complete 8.5 ascents of the 'Alp de Huez' in Zwift, which saw him cycling 213km whilst climbing 9,000 metres.

Allister sad: “To see so many colleagues taking part in this challenge to raise money for Children’s Hospice South West was inspirational. The persistence in just continuing, despite pain, hunger and lack of sleep at times was amazing and I’m proud of each and every one of them.”

Many Coastline colleagues attracted attention on their way round the challenge by dressing in fancy dress and two colleagues donned inflatable dinosaur costumes.

Allister adds: “The sight of two inflatable dinosaurs waddling along the pavements near our offices certainly drew some attention and lots of people were keen to approach the dinosaurs to find out more about what we were up to. In all seriousness, as a Cornish-based charity ourselves we are always keen to champion other great charities and causes locally. It’s all part of making a difference to the lives of people living in Cornwall and colleagues are always really excited to get involved in our fundraising efforts.”

Anyone wishing to donate to the marathon challenge fundraising pot for CHSW can still do so via a Just Giving page. The link is available on Coastline’s Facebook page.