On Saturday 13th March, our team was up early, excited to finally embark on our much anticipated 100K challenge. The challenge, which was part of our larger fundraiser of £30,000, saw each of our coaches and staff run a distance from one stadium, to another, for a total of 13 grounds.
The day started early (even earlier for some), as Josh travelled up from Portsmouth, with Lewis, Cameron and Reece joining him for the full day of recording, cheering on runners and supplying customary doughnuts to each runner at the end of their leg.
Of course, as the home of football, we embarked on our challenge from Wembley Stadium – and who better to set us off than Wembley residents and UCFB students, Max and Richie.
A brisk start to a blustery day didn’t phase the first of our torch-bearing coaches, proudly rocking the custom Bloomsbury x 100K Challenge t-shirts, kindly sponsored by the Bloomsbury Construction Group. Though Richie’s choice of running attire left the rest of us feeling chilly (not to mention the matching headbands, lads…), we cheered and clapped them on their way to QPR… and we were off!
Roughly 9km to the good after the first leg, the boys reached their destination with minimal injuries and a decent pace to boot. Maria, eager for her leg of the race, ready and raring to go outside of QPR’s newly renamed, Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, was on hand to applaud the lads’ effort before setting off at a blistering pace (admittedly, to warm herself up more than anything else!), and so we set off to catch-up!
Alas, we were too slow, Maria becoming the first runner of the day to beat the car filled with cheerleaders, water and doughnuts (the raspberry jam kind, not us 4 coaches). After a quick sprint up to Brentford’s brand new stadium, we found Maria waiting for us having completed her 6k- show off – with Joe and Stevie ready to set off on their stint to the riverside, Craven Cottage.
After arguably the most scenic route of the day, Stevie and Quinny finished strong to meet Biraj outside one of the prettier stadiums in London – another 7km done and a total of 21km done so far. Biraj, though not having far to run, had a point to prove – also wanting to beat us in the car and follow in Maria’s footsteps. Unlucky, we pipped him to the line outside Stamford Bridge, waiting with Nick for but a moment before Biraj came into our vision and SPRINTED to finish a 2.5km stint in style. It was all smiles at this point, doughnut in hand, Nick by his side, and his mum alongside him to take on the next leg of our race!
Nick and Miss Ives completed a windy and arduous 7km run-up to Wimbledon, getting slightly lost on the way in the beautiful Putney, to meet Lewis at AFC Wimbledon – with a great back story, having been fundraised by their adoring fans to bring their beloved club back to the Capital. Fortunately for him, there was no-one on hand to capture Lewis’ shocking hair being blown about by the heavy winds as Nick passed on the baton. On to the first 10km run of the day, a twisty-turny route down to our second Premier League stadium of the day – Selhurst Park, home of Crystal Palace.
Cameron, not to be mistaken with the arriving Palace stars outside the gates, was on hand to give kudos for a decent time, regaining some time lost, before smashing it out of the water with an average of 4:01 minutes per kilometer over 12km…! Traffic allowed us to narrowly beat him on the final straight towards Millwall, The Den, where Marcus was ready getting his stretches in.
With 7km between him and Charlton Athletic Football Club, with a lovely route cutting through Greenwich, he was off – and going fast. After intercepting us in the heart of Greenwich and just after passing the Cutty Sark, the Bloomsburymobile took a detour around the traffic that almost cost them the lead – with Marcus making a hefty shout to beat us, we arrived just on time to welcome him outside The Valley stadium – where Josh hopped out of the car and into his running shoes. Our very own marathon-man had another jaw-dropping 12km to complete on his way to the Olympic Village – the London Stadium – to meet Reece.
Reece – after handing over the photography responsibilities to Lewis (and what a great job I did, if I say so myself!) – set off to complete his 3km contribution to the O’s (Leyton Orient). After making our way back to the Bloomsburymobile, which was parked rather far away for our liking, Reece… We tried to catch up, but the traffic gods were on his side and we were beaten for the 2nd time that day.
The Haringey Borough FC named ‘Gift from the Gods’, George Aresti, was waiting (on the wrong side of the stadium… far too early, an hour to be precise) to take over as we headed onto the last few stadiums of the day. A cool 8km, nothing George isn’t used to on a matchday, was his punishment. A route George isn’t unfamiliar with saw him approach the brand new, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, to tag-in Coach Lucas.
Rocking the new kit with pride outside the Spurs stadium, Lucas was ready to complete a 7km journey to the best stadium in the country, The Emirates (no bias at all). As the rain clouds loomed, but fortunately never poured, Lucas made his way to the Arsenal, coming down the stairs in true Rocky Balboa fashion to complete the penultimate leg of the day. Our CEO and Founder, Charlie, was on hand at his beloved Arsenal to complete our final stint back to the home of football and our starting point of the day, Wembley Stadium. Yes, the whole 14km… Up through hilly Hampstead, crossing the motorway bridges and even being instructed to turn around by the stewards at Wembley Way, he came charging home, completing an incredible day with an incredible run – one that almost saw him beat the Bloomsburymobile for a 3rd time!
Once Charlie had caught his breath and we’d all got over just how far we’d all made it in a single day, we were ready for our picture-perfect moment… if only! After digging out George for forgetting his 100k in-a-day custom t-shirt, Lewis walked eagerly up the stairs to join the photo, before being quizzed on why he (I…) wasn’t wearing mine! In a moment of pure confusion, I wondered down two steps to my bag, which I then realised I’d left in the car (having been made to sprint to the finish line from the car to beat Charlie, believe it or not)… Sorry, Mark! But all-in-all, we crowned a great day of teamwork, with which we achieve everything, with a fantastic team photo (see first image) and a lot of laughs.
On a more serious note, we would like to thank everyone for their continued support, through the hard months we have seen over the last 12 months, as well as with our fundraising efforts, which will enable us to extend our reach to even more young people in London, providing quality, affordable access to football.
From all of us at Bloomsbury,
Thank you.