Over the lockdown period, Alnwick Triathlon Club challenged its members to cover 1,000 miles across the course of a weekend in July, raising over £1,000 for a local food bank.
Frances Wilde, Welfare Officer at Alnwick Triathlon Club, said: “It was during lockdown that I had the idea to do a charity event for the Alnwick District Food Bank as a result of hearing all the stories of people’s struggles because of Covid and wanting to do something to help the local area.
“I’d seen that the food bank had something like a 500% increase in demand since March and was massively under resourced, so we decided to help out with a virtual charity fundraiser.”
The challenge from the club was to swim, bike and run 1,000 miles collectively over the course of a weekend in July. Members welcomed the challenge with open arms, swimming 10 miles in open water, cycling an incredible 2,232 miles and running 142 miles to bring the total distance to 2,384 miles.
“We raised over £1,000 for the food bank which provided around 500 food packages for those in need in our local community,” said Wilde.
“It was incredible to see so many members get involved in the event. We had 51 members of the club participating, 14 of whom were juniors, and both our youngest and oldest member joined the event. We also had our newest member and our longest standing member participate, which was great to see.
“As we started putting photos on social media and people were sharing their own progress, the momentum just grew and, by the second day, we had a lot more people taking part who initially weren’t planning to.”
The club members challenged themselves to a variety of distances, from standard to middle distance, whilst others picked the bike up for the first time in months.
“It was really good for the club,” said Wilde. “We had several months where we couldn’t do much and training had stopped. All the people that you were used to seeing out, you weren’t seeing anymore, and it was a difficult period. So, although you still weren’t physically seeing anyone, it was still nice to touch base and see what they were up to on social media.”
The challenge was a resounding success, uniting club members in a difficult period of isolation and also supporting the community at such a crucial time.
“The club really got behind this in a big way. They overwhelmingly backed it and they were all absolutely brilliant. It was a huge success, providing essential help to the community and a boost to the club during the Covid lull,” said Wilde.
“We achieved our goals in two ways. Firstly, raising money for Alnwick Food Bank during very difficult Covid times and secondly, bringing the club together in a common aim after a long period without training together.”
