Posts Tagged :

run

New year, new challenge

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As we head into the New Year, it’s the perfect time to take on your next challenge and make a meaningful difference.

Whether you’re looking to push your limits in fitness, bring your team together for a memorable adventure, or tick off a personal goal, we’ve got an event for you. Check out our challenges page here for inspiration or why not take on…

London Landmarks 2023You can also find a full list of exciting marathons and half marathons around the country here. And enjoy 50% off the registration fee for our Three Peaks Challenge when you sign up by 31 January. (Using the code SMILE50).

Every penny you raise will bring joy to children facing serious illnesses, creating moments of happiness when they’re needed most.

Make this year one to remember. The challenge starts with YOU.

For more information or if you have any questions please contact rimi@spreadasmile.org.

Royal Parks Half Marathon success

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We are so proud of every single runner who joined Team Smile for the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London yesterday!

With 81 runners taking on the beautiful 13.1-mile course around four of London’s eight Royal Parks, it was our largest team of runners to date and the Spread a Smile team loved being there to cheer everyone on.

Our team included some of our amazing supporters and fundraisers, our very own Community Fundraising Manager, Tasha Mann, teams from the Corinthia Hotel, Mildreds and BC Partners and friends from KSEYE, Bregal Investments, Redstor, Menspire, McVities, Hilco and Downing LLP. Plus we were proud to welcome, Andy, Dad to Emmie, who we have supported for a number of years.

“It was such a pleasure to take part in the Royal Parks Half Marathon and I was so happy to support the brilliant charity, Spread a Smile. Seeing their cheerleaders around the course really helped and it was such a wonderful atmosphere, doing something positive for a great cause.” Rosie Nixon (pictured on the left with Jane Mulkerrins, right).

Our Co-founders Josephine Segal and Vanessa Crocker along with Chief Executive Lucy Jackson were there on the day along with the Spread a Smile team to motivate our runners.

Thanks to the incredible support and efforts of our amazing fundraisers, over £50,000 has been raised to support our vital work spreading smiles to seriously ill children and young people in hospital.

A huge thank you to all of our runners. We salute you! Also to The Gloucester pub in Knightsbridge for hosting our team so beautifully after the event.

Please email Rimi at rimi@spreadasmile.org to join Team Smile for one of our fundraising challenges, including the 5k Santa in the City in December or London Landmarks Half Marathon on Sunday 6 April 2025.

Team Smile take on the Vitality 10k

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Yesterday saw the brilliant Vitality 10,000 return to the streets of London, with 12 brilliant fundraisers joining Team Smile to take on the challenge.

With cloud and rain as the backdrop, our runners followed the 10k course past some of London’s most famous landmarks, including St Paul’s Cathedral and Big Ben.

Community Fundraising Manager, Tasha was there to cheer everyone on saying, “Despite the bad weather, Team Smile did us proud. We are so grateful to Adam, Abbey, Charlie, Elena, Emma, Jac, James, Jospeh, Lea, Leanne, Nick and Tom for all their efforts and commitment to supporting our work and helping to spread smiles to seriously ill children and their families. Hopefully everyone is enjoying a well-earned rest today!”

The celebratory Vitality London 10,000 is an event for all to enjoy and if you would like to join us in 2025, then please email Rimi at rimi@spreadasmile.org

Thank you to all of Team Smile for their support.

Team Smile takes on the London Marathon

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This weekend, nine incredible supporters will take on the iconic TCS London Marathon in aid of Spread a Smile.

The London Marathon is one of the world’s most popular marathons, covering 26.2 miles around the streets of our beautiful capital city, taking in London’s best landmarks including Buckingham Palace, The Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf.

We spoke to Team Smile marathon runner, Charlotte Weatherall – Director of Sales & Marketing at Corinthia London – about the race ahead, her training and motivations for taking on this amazing challenge and supporting Spread a Smile.

Charlotte: “I ran my first marathon in 2009 in New York with the only goal of getting over the finish line and with no intention of ever doing another one. Since then, I have run 10 marathons in total, including the Brighton Marathon earlier this month. The London Marathon will be my 11th which seems quite fitting seeing as it’s also Spread a Smile’s 11th birthday this month. 

“There is something special about running a marathon – the commitment to training, feeling fitter and heathier and then the magic of the day itself. It hurts and it’s as much a mental challenge as a physical one. But the sense of achievement when you finish is so special it encourages you back to try again.

“I started training for the London Marathon at the beginning of the year and have managed to stick to my plan on the whole. The longer runs of 16, 18 and 20 miles are hard – they take a long time and they hurt. With a young family to juggle alongside work and training there is no rest. The hardest part has been managing the long runs and then still showing up and being a parent, when all I want to do is lie on the sofa! Having my family behind me has kept me going and time is precious, so better use it for something meaningful. The sofa can wait for another day.

“I was introduced to Spread a Smile during the pandemic when the hotel I worked for at the time wanted to gift boxes of afternoon tea and vouchers to NHS hospitals as a thank you for their amazing work during Covid. A mutual friend introduced me to the charity and they helped us set up the initiative and we gifted boxes to NHS key workers. I was instantly impressed and inspired by the charity’s passion and energy and everyone I met and spoke to was so wonderful.

“Since I joined Corinthia London two years ago, I have been able to nominate Spread a Smile as the hotel’s partner charity. Now in the second year of partnership, I feel very proud to see colleagues getting behind the charity and supporting events and initiatives as well as fundraising.

“I organised a team of colleagues from Corinthia London to run the Royal Parks Half Marathon last October and we raised over £13,000, which was an incredibly proud moment. When the team at Spread a Smile mentioned they might be able to get a spot for me in the London Marathon, I jumped at the chance. There is no other marathon like it in the world!

“As a mother of two, there is not a day that goes by that I am not grateful for their health. Love for a child is like nothing I have experienced, and I find it an unbearable thought to imagine that being taken away. I have always empathised with what the children and families supported by Spread a Smile must go through whilst having nothing but respect and admiration for their positivity in the face of adversity.

“I believe Spread a Smile help at the most challenging moments for a family and if I can be a small part in helping that continue, then it is an absolute privilege to do so.

“To anyone thinking of taking on a challenge like the London Marathon for Spread a Smile, I say “do it!” You will never regret it once you cross the finish line and the sense of achievement and pride in yourself for making the commitment, training, raising money and then doing what you agreed to do on the day, is a feeling like no other.”

A huge thank you and GOOD LUCK from everyone at Spread a Smile to Charlotte and all of our amazing marathon runners for their commitment, efforts and support. You’ve got this!