What an extraordinary year 2020 has turned out to be, and the motto which our students came up with for our charity couldn’t be more pertinent: “better days ahead”. That’s something we’re all hoping for as we slowly begin to return to the new normal.
One thing that has remained constant throughout, however, is James’s running. Fresh off the back of last autumn’s fundraising efforts James registered for the 2020 Wachau Marathon as soon as registration opened in December 2019. The extremely mild winter enabled James to run consistently and build a good base level of fitness prior to the start of serious marathon training, and by March he was optimistic of a solid performance in 2020. Then, after keeping one eye on the coronavirus situation, Austria was in lockdown by mid-March and one by one the bigger events—including marathons—were being cancelled.
We’re now well into June and measures to contain the pandemic are gradually being eased, and with the Wachau Marathon having so far avoided cancellation, James has just begun his 16-week training plan and remains optimistic that it will go ahead. James will be running both to raise awareness for BetterDayz, our re-branded project in Sierra Leone, and to fundraise for the education of our students. With COVID-19 forcing us to put virtually all fundraising efforts on hold, we emerge from lockdown more determined than ever to get the ball rolling, and this is where we need your help.
You can sponsor James by visiting the “Get involved” page of our website at: http://www.better-dayz.org/help/ and making a donation via PayPal, Visa, or Debit card. We are also planning to set up a GoGetFunding page to accept donations, and we’ll make an announcement as soon as it’s ready.
James has also pledged that in the event that the Wachau Marathon 2020—scheduled to take place on September 27—is cancelled, he will still run the full marathon distance anyway in a private event. We’ll keep you informed as the situation develops.
In the meantime, stay safe!
The BetterDayz Team