Love Running sets out to help ordinary people get fit, get friends and change the world by raising money for three distinct areas - the poor, the oppressed and the needy.
A third of the money we raise will once again go to our long term partnership project in Zimbabwe. Since Love Running was launched we've supported a World Vision area development programme in one of the poorest parts of Zimbabwe. It's now the biggest programme of its kind in the country and we are the sole supporters.
The second third of the money is going to provide clean water and sanitation to a community of 6,000 people in rural Uganda. Currently young girls are forced to walk for 3-4 hours a day to collect water, leaving them vulnerable to injury, rape, disease and a disrupted education. We believe it is unjust that 900 million people worlwide have no access to clean water, with the result that 5,000 children die each day. We want to do something about it.
A simple slogan but one that's resonated with a huge number of people. When we first launched Love Running in 2009 we thought we might get a few dozen people to sign up. Our ultimate goal was for a hundred.
So when 300 people eventually signed up and put on the red t-shirt we were, quite frankly, amazed.
