Team Hope for the Young’s Big Half Success

On Sunday 4th September, a team of eight fearless runners took on The Vitality Big Half Marathon in aid of Hope for the Young.

The team consisted of Hope for the Young volunteer mentors Mohammed, Abbie, Harry and Fumina, Hope for the Young mentee Addisu, and three friends of Hope for the Young, Matt, Stefano, and Tim.

Our runners took on a gruelling 13.1-mile-long course, starting at Tower Bridge and finishing beside the Cutty Sark, passing through four London boroughs along the way.

All the runners finished the race and ran fantastically. As a team, they raised an incredible £2,065.49 towards our work. They also raised plenty of awareness for the charity wearing their neon orange running vests!

Also running The Big Half this year was Olympian Sir Mo Farah. Running in the same race as Sir Mo made the experience even more poignant for our runners, following Sir Mo’s revelation earlier this year that he himself had been trafficked to the UK from Somalia as a child.

Special mention goes to Hope for the Young mentee Addisu who sped around the course, finishing his first ever half-marathon in an extraordinary time of 1 hour and 24 minutes. That’s just 22 minutes behind Olympian Sir Mo Farah, who also ran the race this year!

Addisu had been training for the marathon with the support of The Running Charity, who harness the power of running to support young people who are experiencing homelessness or managing complex needs.

We are incredibly proud of Addisu. Not only did he absolutely smash the race, but he also raised a whopping £310 to support young refugees and asylum-seekers!

I'm young. Still, my future is complicated. Still, my asylum case is not complete. So, it's important for people to donate to Hope for the Young so they can continue to support people like me with mentoring. Addisu, Mentee

We want to say a big congratulations to the wonderful team who took on The Big Half, and a huge thank you for their awesome fundraising and awareness-raising efforts!

Want to show your support for Team Hope for the Young? Click here to check out their Big Half fundraising pages and donate to support young refugees.

Go Team Hope for the Young!