Happy Birthday, Charlie!

August 4th 2020 marks what would have been Charlie’s fourth birthday. Each year we have celebrated Charlie’s birthday with a fundraising event in his memory, but due to Covid-19 our event for this year has sadly been cancelled. However, we have now launched a virtual event that we hope you can all celebrate with us – no matter where you are in the world!

Charlie’s Birthday Relay Run is a collective event that anyone, of any age and any ability can complete – even if you’re still shielding or staying at home – so we hope that this event also aids in cheering people up during these difficult times as well as being able to be a part of something special, even from your own home.

So, what exactly is the event?

We would like to ask people to run, walk or wheel just one mile – yep, one mile – so we can collectively cover a distance of 400 miles (100 miles for each of Charlie’s birthdays). We’d love people to send in a photo, or a very short video, when you’re completing your distance as we’d like to create a Video of Achievement to showcase everyone’s efforts participating in Charlie’s Cheeky Relay Run. The event starts today, Tuesday 4th August, on Charlie’s birthday and you can complete your mile any time from now until Sunday 31st August 2020.

It’s £10 to sign up and all participants will receive a certificate and one of our fantastic Cheeky Monkey medals and will be added to our Video of Achievement if they so wish. Videos and photos can be sent to: stephanie@thecharliegardfoundation.org

Why should I participate?

Not only is this an event to celebrate and remember our beautiful Charlie who is the inspiration for our charity, it’s a way to help us raise funds so we can continue to support children and adults who are affected by mitochondrial disease. It’s also a fantastic way to collectively be a part of 16 marathons! and gives you something positive to do during these very difficult times. Your one-mile contribution will be helping us to continue supporting our families, and for that we are incredibly grateful.

Do I have to fundraise?

This is entirely up to you. It’s not a requirement as all we request is that you pay your sign-up fee, but if you would like to raise funds for us as well we certainly wouldn’t object! If you’d like to set up a fundraising page you can do so here and all funds raised are very gratefully received – thank you.

Can I complete more than one mile?

Yes, you can! One mile is the minimum requirement, but if you’d like to complete more then that would be fantastic! Just email us at stephanie@thecharliegardfoundation.org to let us know how many miles you’ve completed and we’ll add them to our tally.

So please do get involved in our relay run and help us smash our 400 mile target and join us in continuing to create a brighter mito future because mito matters.