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Thank you Leigh-on-Sea Striders!

The Finish Line Fund would like to thank all of the organisers of the Leigh-on-Sea Strider’s Halloween themed 10k on the evening of Wednesday, 1st November. To all of the wonderful marshals from Leigh-on-Sea Striders, all of the runners who made the night so special, and the event sponsors, RunActive Essex and happystride, thank you so much!

In total, the event raised £5,000 and Finish Line Fund is absolutely amazed at the extremely generous donation, which will allow us to continue our work supporting sport and making those places where sport takes place safer.

This year we have issued 32 grants to clubs and event organisers for various equipment, training courses, sponsorship and increased our defibrillator estate now to 28.

A massive thank you 💙🧡

Meeting some of our grant beneficiaries

The last weekend of October 2023 has been a busy one getting out and about to see some of our recent grant beneficiaries.

On Saturday we were with Trinity FC U9s, the purchase of whose new kit we provided a grant for. Terrific to see the hard work put in by Arron and Amy paying dividends and the team ethos they are creating with the boys.

Also on Saturday we were with Laura’s Runners, a new small running group who we have helped with a grant to cover the cost of their first club shirts. This group has provided an outlet for some, who may not have joined an established running club.

And on Sunday, we were back at Trinity FC to see the U17 Silvers in their new tracksuit tops, which were purchased via another Finish Line Fund grant.

The Finish Line Fund London Marathon Team

On Sunday, 14th May we thanked our fantastic London Marathon Team for their brilliant dedication and commitment in representing the charity (unfortunately Jennie Evans was unavailable)

They combined brilliantly and fundraised way beyond our expectations.

Thanks again to Linda Donnelly, Michelle Watson, Julie Ludlow, Debbie Daws, Catherine Popplewell, Kelly Jenkins-Hoare and to everyone who donated to them, we are very grateful. 🖤🧡

Runners take to the streets to help raise funds…

Saturday 25th March saw the 3rd annual running of the Finish Line Fund Virtual Relay.

278 runners from six clubs took part and raised £1,924 for the Finish Line Fund.

The event simply requires 12 consecutive half hour slots to be filled by each club’s runners, with no limit on the maximum. Runners can run anywhere on their own route with points awarded for most mileage covered and number of runners per club.

Runners took part from Benfleet Running Club, Flyers Southend, Rayleigh Road & Trail, South Woodham Runners, Leigh-on-Sea Striders, and Pitsea Running Club.

Leigh-on-Sea Striders came out on top for the 2nd year running.

Mark Benham the charity’s secretary said.

“We are delighted that the event was such a success once more. We started this event in the 2021 lockdown and have now run two events since. To have so many runners on the streets raising money for the charity was fantastic. We’d like to thank all the runners who took part and the clubs who participated to ensure the numbers were high. Fundraising such as this is vital for us to continue our work”.

London Marathon 2023

As a small charity, we are not able to purchase charity places for the London Marathon. 

We are therefore reliant on those supporters who gain ballot places, putting themselves forward to fundraise for the charity. 

This year we are blessed to have Debbie Daws, Linda Donnelly , Kelly Hoare, Julie Ludlow and Michelle Watson fundraising for us, running the London streets, at the event on April 23rd.

Additionally Jennie Evans and Catherine Popplewell are fundraising in the Virtual London Marathon. 

We would like to extend our thanks to all our fundraisers , wish them well with their remaining training over the next few weeks and of course on the big day.

This week we held a fundraising Curry evening, which was enjoyed by 32 attendees.

#Supportsportinourcommunity

Finish Line Fund and CrossFit get together to help raise the bar!

Finish Line Fund and CrossFit get together to help raise the bar!

We recently completed work with three Essex based CrossFit organisations to provide vital life saving equipment at each venue.

CrossFit is the high-intensity fitness programme incorporating elements from several sports and types of exercise.

At Crossfit 13 in Hutton, Two Tails CrossFit in Wickford and The Training Design Gym in Chelmsford, we have worked together to provide three separate defibrillator facilities.

In the case of CrossFit 13 and The Training Design these are public access facilities, which are also available to serve the wider public, on two busy industrial sites.

The owners of each organisation held fundraising days for members to contribute and the response in each case was outstanding.

We would like to thank the fantastic fundraising achievement in each case.

Pictured are trustee Malcom Keys at CrossFit 13 in Brentwood with owner Emily Hart and

If you would like to find out more about CrossFit :-

www.crossfit13.com

www.twotailscrossfit.co.uk

www.thetrainingdesign.co.uk

#supportingsportinourcommunity#crossfit

2022 Finish Line Frolic

It’s hard to believe that two months have passed since the Finish Line Frolic on 31st July. It’s taken that time for us to finalise the various financial aspects of the event.

Last weekend our chairman Keith Passingham paid a visit to another Hare & Tortoise Running charity event “Mayor & Tortoise-Mayor’s Big Run” and was pleased to be advised of the final Frolic donation, a fantastic £3,854, which includes the sponsorship funds from My Race Kit, Southbourne Physiotherapy, and Malcolm Keys Consulting.

We would like to thank Bev and Pete at Hare & Tortoise https://www.hareandtortoiserunning.co.uk once again for their fantastic support and that of our wonderful sponsors and supporters, at the event and through months of preparation.

We were delighted to attract 131 entries, 115 runners on the day, all competing over a lapped approximately 5k route which started at Belchamps Scout Centre (who made us very welcome) and passed though Gusted & Hockley Woods.

Runners completed as many laps as they wished in the 6-hour time limit, with Mike Woodward of Pitsea RC and Jemma Lee of Leigh on Sea Striders, coming out on top. 

Full results are here: https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=284895

Here’s what some of the runners had to say: –

“An awesome experience”

“Friendly, Fun and Peaceful”

“Wonderfully organised, inclusive event”

“Great event, medal and goody bag”

“Great race, lovely atmosphere”

“Brilliantly organised, great route”

“There was so much to love about this event”

Finally, we are delighted to announce that the Frolic will return on Sunday 30th July 2023, once more at Belchamps Scout Centre. Please come and join us, you can sign up here 

https://hare-tortoise-running.eventize.co.uk/e/finish-line-frolic-539