Paralympic athelete and more teams join Kirklees leg of the World Marathon Challenge
Published on: 30th September 2011
Kirklees is to enter a second team and will be joined by a team from Leeds in the World Marathon Challenge at Leeds Road Sports Complex on Wednesday 5 October. The three teams will race against thousands of children across the world in a simultaneous relay race.
Paralympic athelete Hannah Cockroft will run the first leg for the Leeds team with Huddersfield Town’s Terry the Terrier and Huddersfield Giant’s Big G mascots running the first leg for the Kirklees teams. The Mayor of Kirklees will set the race off at 11am to coincide with the start time of all the other competing teams across the world.
The runners in each team run 200m sections in relays until they complete the marathon distance. The three teams will compete to try to beat Makau’s world record marathon time set only last week in Berlin by Patrick Makau from Manyanzwani, Kenya. Makau broke the record held for three years by Haile Gebrselassie, who is supporting Save the Children’s No Child Born to Die campaign and says: “I lost my mother at a young age when she died in childbirth. And in my home village far too many children still die young. It’s so important that mothers and children get access to trained health workers and the right medicine”
The aim is for a school team to beat the marathon world record time of 2 hrs 3 minutes and 38 seconds. The two Kirklees teams are:
Team Kirklees Kings is made up of 31 runners from Scissett Middle & Kirkburton Middle schools.
Team Kirklees Knights is made up of 31 runners from Honley High and Holmfirth High schools.
Team Leeds is made up of 31 runners from Priesthorpe High School and Leeds West Academy
The annual World Marathon Challenge sees 30 teams of children compete from 15 cities in the UK and over 25 teams from 12 countries overseas. The relay is supported by Save the Children to highlight the challenges faced by children less fortunate than themselves.
In villages, towns and cities across the world, the 26.2 mile relay races on 5 October will see children aged 11-13 running together to send a powerful message to the world that No Child is Born to Die.
Times for each team will be announced via Twitter at regular intervals to allow runners to monitor their performance against their competitors who will be running simultaneously in other venues around the world. The results will be published on a world league table.
In the UK, races will take place at 11am across 15 venues, including, Huddersfield, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Exeter, and West Dunbartonshire. Teams from 11 other countries across the world, including Kenya, Canada, Mexico, Mali and New Zealand will challenge them.
Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive of Save the Children says “Every child is born with the potential to shine, but right now, across the world, too many children don’t get that chance. Every year almost 8 million children die before their fifth birthday, mostly from illnesses we know how to prevent or treat, such as diarrhea and pneumonia. When children take part in the World Marathon Challenge they'll be running with children from Kirklees to Kiambu, from Madrid to Mali – all standing in solidarity with children who face a daily struggle to survive.”
For more information please contact:
Andy Cook on 01484 234018/07815783757 or andy.cook@kirklees.gov.uk
Sam Jones on sajones@savethechildren.org.uk
Tel 020 7012 6481 / 07531 625 233
