Local Man on Advent-urous Christmas Run for Alzheimers Society

 

While most will be busy preparing for Christmas during advent this
year, one local man will be dusting down his running shoes and
pounding the streets each day to raise funds for and awareness of a
charitable appeal close to his heart.

Andrew Hurd, (42), of Ratby has vowed to run a total of 250 miles
throughout the entire 25-day period, covering an average of ten miles
daily, for the Alzheimer’s Society, a charity that helps his father, a
sufferer of the disease.

Andrew explained:

“My Dad suffers from Alzheimer’s and I find it very difficult to help
him and make his life any better.

“One big way I can help is to raise both awareness and funds for the
Alzheimer’s Society to help carers, provide support for families of
sufferers and for important research into the illness.”

As if the mileage and frequency is not gruelling enough, Andrew has
introduced a novel twist to the challenge. Routes and mileages have
been mapped out in secret and Andrew will only discover where – and
how far – he is to run on any day just hours before.

“I have devised an Advent Calendar with a difference,” he explained.

“The twist to this is that each day’s distance will be hidden on an
advent calendar so I will not know how far I have to run the next day
until finishing the previous day’s run.

“The only stipulation is that the shortest distance is done on
Christmas Day.”

Andrew runs for Leicestershire-based running club Desford Striders,
for whom he is also a committee member, and fellow club runners have
rallied round to support his latest charity challenge which follows
the Round Leicester Relay Challenge that he completed last year. Many
have agreed to join him on his runs and on Sunday (18 November) a
record turnout of 30 completed a cross country league race in
Markfield as part of the preparations and lined up for a team photo
beforehand. Further photo opportunities have been planned in the
run-up to the start of the challenge.

Andrew has set up a Facebook page dedicated to his Advent Calendar
Challenge and he will be updating followers of his progress throughout
December via Twitter.

The Challenge commences on 1 December and ends on 25 December and
anyone wishing to sponsor Andrew may do so on his fundraising page at
justgiving.com/AndrewHurd1.

For further information, please contact Andrew at
andrew@askaccountancy.co.uk or by telephone on 07866 545 471.

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