News

On the weekend of 11 and 12 May 2109 Ben Pope took part in the Walk the Walk Moonwalk in London. It is run by the charity Walk the Walk and it is about raising money and awareness of breast cancer. It involves walking (absolutely no running is allowed) marathon (26.2 miles) through the night around London along with 15,000 other men and women (10,000 women & 5,000 men) in decorated bras (or dressed as a superhero in the case of Ben and his friend Paul) - from about 11:00pm until however long it takes. The minimum age to take part in the event is 13. Being 13 they could only be registered for the Half Moon plus 2 (15.1 miles) and not yet for the Full. This is the same event but for just over half of the route.

We trained since January and built up the distances gradually and the longest walk we did was 14 miles - Ramsgate to Sandwich and back via the nature reserve. We did a fundraising quiz night to help with building up our donations which was very successful and this all boosted their confidence in completing the Half Moon. On Thursday 9 May we received an email from Walk the Walk to tell us that out of 15,000 people there were 36 13 year olds taking part - 33 girls and 3 boys (Ben, Paul and one other). On Saturday evening the 13 year olds were called to the stage in the huge pink 'tent' where the impact could be made that when they are middle aged (in 2050) there will be a cure for breast cancer. They raised awareness that men get breast cancer too (worryingly not that many people know this) and they put themselves through mental and physical endurance challenge to achieve this. They saw the London Eye and Marble Arch lit up pink for the night to mark the event. Ben showed great stamina and willingness to put himself through this challenge for others. Up until Saturday night our team of four had raised £875. This has contributed to the total of £2.8 million which is incredible for 15,000 people.