Our marathon runner, Sidharth Prabhu-Naik, writes about the 2.6 challenge, and how you can spend your time while we wait for the postponed marathon to roll around in October.
This Sunday 26th April, was supposed to be the date of the 40th London Marathon. Having trained hard for two months over the winter in my quest to run a sub 2 hour 26 miles without the aid of Nike Vaporflys, I was of course disappointed when I found out that the race was to be postponed due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Much more important than my own disappointment however has been the huge impact of coronavirus on charities. Many fundraising events which had been due to take place have had to be cancelled, leading to a large loss of income. Those events which have instead been postponed, such as the London Marathon, are also problematic. Many people will not be able to take part in the postponed events and, even if they can, the delayed income means that charities are now suffering from a cashflow crisis from which many will not be able to recover. To tackle this issue Virgin Money Giving have set up the 2.6 challenge. The idea is simple:
Perform an arduous, humorous or otherwise meaningful challenge which involves the number 2.6 with or without the decimal e.g. do 26 hula-hoops, cycle 2.6 miles etc.
Donate some money to your page (there are links at the bottom of this blog to set up your own fundraiser for Sing Inside)
Ask your friends and family to sponsor your challenge, or nominate them to perform a challenge of their own.
Hopefully with the aid of the funds raised from this initiative we can help keep afloat those charities which perform such a valuable contribution to our society, both during and outside of life in the time of corona.
For anyone interested, the London marathon will be taking place this year on 4th October and I will be running. Many thanks to all who have donated so far; I now have an extra 5 months to achieve my target. Watch out Kipchoge…
How to get involved
1. Donate to Sing Inside by clicking here and searching 'Sing Inside' OR 2. Create your own fundraising page supporting Sing Inside for your challenge here OR 3. Head to twopointsixchallenge.co.uk to donate to the central pot, of which Sing Inside will receive a proportion based on the challenges our supporters undertake for us. We would love to see videos of your activities, video diaries of your planning, pictures of you efforts - anything that gives us a taster of what you're doing! Send them to us at maisie@singinside.org and we will share them with our supporters on social media to help spread the word. No challenge is too wild or weird - we look forward to seeing your ideas.
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