WHILE many of us embarked on lockdown projects last year, one local resident truly went above and beyond.
Emma Cantrell, CEO of First Days Children’s Charity in Hurst, set herself the challenge of running 2020km last year.
She did so in a bid to raise money for her organisation, which supports children living in poverty across Wokingham borough and further afield.
Now, 215 runs later with nearly £10,000 raised, Ms Cantrell has announced that she had completed the challenge on New Year’s Eve – but it was no easy feat.
“At the beginning of last year I knew it would be a big challenge,” the CEO explained. “But then the pandemic hit and that made it even harder.
“First Days has never been so busy because of everything that happened in 2020, so it was hugely difficult to balance the charity and the challenge.”
Ms Cantrell took on the mammoth task to ensure First Days Children’s Charity could continue helping thousands of children living in poverty.
Now, one year on, the fundraiser has enabled a number of local children to sleep in their own beds for the very first time.
“We don’t reuse mattresses at First Days, so we put some of the funds towards buying new mattresses for children,” Ms Cantrell said.
“And this was actually a real motivator for me.
“During some of the runs, I would think ‘why am I doing this?’ and the thought of children not having a bed to sleep in at night motivated me to keep going.”
To complete the challenge, Ms Cantrell embarked on runs of all lengths throughout the year.
Originally, she had planned to complete 20 races as part of the distance, including the London Marathon, but as the coronavirus pandemic stopped events from going ahead she had to change her plans.
“I’m not really a runner, so it was a huge challenge for me,” she said. “I found it really hard mentally, forcing myself to go out on runs alone.
“And physically it was hard as well. I was doing 20-mile runs every weekend at one point to train for the Virtual London Marathon.”
Ms Cantrell says that she was running, on average, between 35 and 40 kilometres each week to make sure she hit her goal.
Now, she’s looking to the future and says that one day, she hopes she can close First Days Children’s Charity forever.
“We would like one thing for the future of the charity,” she said. “To close the doors for good, unable to find anyone who needs our help.”
But for now, the charity is continuing to ramp up its operations wherever possible as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
Ms Cantrell is ecstatic that she was able to raise extra funds with her running challenge.
“I’m absolutely thrilled that we were able to raise so much money because it all makes such a difference,” she said.
“When I look back, I’m really glad to have been able to raise funds and awareness for the charity.”
To find out more about First Days Children’s Charity, visit: www.firstdays.net
