Winners of the JCP Swansea Half Marathon Corporate Challenge took home the award in 2016 and this week have announced that the prize money from the race will go to Swansea Food Bank.
The strong team of school teachers from Bishopston Comprehensive was headed up by P.E teacher Andrew Bartley and head teacher Jeff Bird, and were one of 18 teams to take part in the corporate challenge at the 2016 race. Each team consisted of between five to thirty runners, and the team with the fastest combined time (average time of the top five fastest finishers) takes the title.
Jez Hill lead the pack at Bishopston with a finishing time of 1:34:38, followed by Ceri Bartley, Gavin Davies, Jon Reed and Rodney Johnson who all finished as the top five finishers time within 1:45:21.
Jeff Bird, Head teacher at Bishopston Comprehensive school said:
“I was delighted to see so many of our staff taking part in the Swansea Half Marathon last year. It is an excellent event that generates much-needed funds for worthy charities, and being winners of the corporate challenge helped our school raise an extra £100 toward the Swansea Foodbank. We didn’t enter the challenge expecting to win, however, our team ethos at Bishopston seemed to be the key in becoming the 2016 champions. Taking part was an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate to our pupils that anything is achievable and hope that we can enter in 2017 and retain our title of Corporate Champions.”
Organisers of the race met with Swansea Foodbank to donate the prize of £100 to the charity that is solely run by volunteers across Swansea. The food bank initiative is part of the Trussell Trust and delivers help to people in crisis across the city. Foodbank provides emergency food to people who need it most, whether someone has been made redundant or face a financial crisis; food banks are known to help prevent crime, family breakdown or mental health problems.
David Martin-Jewell, Managing director of Front Runner Events said:
“We are so pleased to be donating the prize from Bishopston Comprehensive School directly to Swansea’s foodbank. Foodbanks provide a very important role to the people of Swansea preventing hunger, and other serious problems. We are very much a strong supporter of this city and like it gives us great pleasure to be giving something back to this very important local charity.”
The JCP Swansea Half Marathon Corporate Challenge was introduced two years ago to give corporate teams the opportunity to get involved in one of the UK’s fastest growing half marathons, whilst giving their organistion exposure and visibility at a major sporting event. The event offers a fantastic platform for companies to actively promote a healthy work force and to encourage fitness, motivation and team building in the business environment whilst raising money for charity.
If you are part of an organisation whether it be a school, not for profit, or commercial business and think you could get a team together to take on the corporate challenge then get in touch with the Front Runner Events team on 01792 277310 email [email protected] or visit: www.swanseahalfmarathon.co.uk
Corporate team entries cost £33+VAT per person for teams of 5-10 entrants, £32+VAT per person for 11-25 entrants and £30+VAT per person for 26-50 entrants. The entry fee includes the team or company name on every runner’s bib, a listing on the Corporate Challenge web page on the race website, access to training advice and plans, plus a medal, technical t-shirt and goody bag for every finisher. The organisers will also award a donation of £100 to the winning team’s charity of choice.
The JCP Swansea Half Marathon takes place on Sunday 25th June 2016 on fully closed roads and is a firm favourite amongst the running community. The flat fast course is perfect for beginners, first time half marathon runners and charity runners, whilst also attracting a large elite field from Wales and beyond to #RunSwansea.
Visit www.swanseahalfmarathon.co.uk for further race details and to sign up, like the Facebook page www.facebook.com/SwanseaHalf and follow @Swansea_HM #RunSwansea #FromTheCityToTheSea on Twitter to keep up to date with all the latest news about the JCP Swansea Half Marathon.
