Edward’s ultramarathon raises £1,300 for Ben
Edward took on an ultramarathon and raised £1,300 to help Ben support those in the automotive industry who are struggling or in crisis. Here he tells us more about his experience and gives words of wisdom to anyone looking to fundraise for Ben, no matter how big or small the challenge.
What inspired you to fundraise for Ben?
“I’d known what Ben does for a little while. One of our technicians has been using Ben’s services and has come on in leaps and bounds since then. About two years ago, I went through my own struggles with alcohol but I didn’t know about Ben’s services during that time.
Mental health is a big thing in the motor trade as it’s a highly stressful environment. There are expectations from customers and the sleepless nights and stresses that come with it so it’s great that Ben’s there to help people get through periods of darkness.”
What fundraising challenge did you choose?
“I did a 100km (62 mile) ultramarathon across the South Downs to raise money for Ben. It was quite a challenge but a really well organised event. I properly started training 2 or 3 months beforehand – I racked up around 450 miles during training and wore out a couple of pairs of trainers!”
How did it go on the day?
“It was hot on the day considering we had a really poor summer so this caught me off guard. I also had some stomach issues and ended up getting quite dehydrated but managed to recover – in part thanks to another runner on the day who gave me hydration tablets and made sure I got them down with some water.”
What was your experience of fundraising for Ben?
“I launched my fundraising page 2 or 3 months before the event and raising the funds was a bit slow to start with. Closer to the event I started plugging it a bit more, which is when it really picked up and a lot of people donated during the event too. There’s a lot of fundraising going on nowadays and I think some people like to see you’ve done your event before donating.”
Do you have plans for any other fundraising events in the future?
“I’ve signed up to do a 100 miler for Ben next year and I’m looking at potentially doing the Thames Challenge covering 184 miles in 4 days too.”
Any advice for anyone thinking about fundraising for Ben?
“It doesn’t matter what you do as your fundraiser, what’s more important is that you put yourself out of your comfort zone. Fitness is so good for mental health – if more people exercised and put themselves out of their comfort zone, they’d benefit so much from it.
Ben is a fantastic charity – there’s no other organisation that really does stuff like this for the motor trade. Whoever can help and raise money, just do whatever you can.”
Thank you to Edward for putting in so much time and effort to support the automotive community. For anyone interested in raising funds for Ben, take a look at our fundraising events. No matter how big or small the event or how much is raised, it all makes a difference and helps us continue providing our services for the automotive industry.