Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
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Our aim is to organise events that provide individuals, whether representing their employers or not, the opportunity to raise funds to support the secondary education of Kenyan children from the slums of Nairobi. All of the events have a physical element and all take place outdoors in the UK thereby providing the opportunity to improve both mind and body.
In the context of the event we are promoting we have as far as possible used local people and facilities with the exception of the core event team. For example we employ local mountain guides in Cumbria and use a local coach company. We set up our race villages in campsites which a re owned and run by locals, there are 5 race village sites in all plus the castle hotel for the finish and prize giving bash.
All of our race pack information is sent via email and only running numbers and sports food samples are sent by post. Within in each of our race packs we emphasise the country code and ensure that all empty drinks containers and other relevant waste is collected for recycling.
We encourage runners to use the train to get to the start area and we offer transfer to the start race village, in all of our events we offer a transfer from station to start as part of the entry. The charity and the events I run from home and our house has all the energy saving options we are aware of, we have a firm re cycle policy in the house. As I work from home there is no transport to the office.
All our courses are on marked trails and navigated with Ordnance Survey maps and in the case of Trans Britain extends over 156 miles, roads are rarely used. It is within our race rules that competitors observe the country code and to the greatest extent possible there should be no evidence of their having passed through. They face disqualification if they fail to comply.
The social responsibility associated with the Trans Britain links back to its raison d’etre, which is to raise money to put Kenyan children through secondary education. This is how it started for me:- "In May 2005 I sat in a classroom with around 80 13 year old girls in a school in the heart of one of Nairobi’s slums Mukuru Kwa Njenga. By coincidence the girls were the same age as my last born, daughter Holly. During a session run by the Barclays Kenya Health and Welfare Officer, Joseph Wafula, he announced in matter of fact way, that statistically 50% would not see their 25th birthday. They barely batted an eyelid, it rocked me. The reason is due to the high incidence of rape in the slums fuelled by rough drugs and alcohol and resulting in the contracting of AIDS through forced unprotected sex. When confronted with this sort of reality you can either take the view that the problem is just too big and there is nothing you can do or commit to doing something, however small to try and make a difference. I chose the latter and I chose to make my contribution by helping to support the education of these young bright people."
We provide support to all the competitors supporting the charity with a range of facilities from donation collection to materials including DVD describing the aims and objectives of the charity and the conditions the children are living in today. Our race packs are comprehensive in terms of what is required from them in terms of their respect for the countryside they pass through and know they can face penalties including disqualification from the event if they fail to meet these standards.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
