THE Oxford Half-Marathon is a charity event that takes place annually, with the aim of raising money for various organisations.
Over £700,000 have already been raised for a range of national charities including Cancer Research UK and the Alzheimer’s society.
Vital funds were also raised for local charities in Oxford such as Sobell House and SSNAP.
SSNAP is a close charity to one of the runners, Andy Gate who is the head of media at Oxford City FC.
He said: “What inspired me to originally run the Oxford Half-Marathon was actually my dad, he’s in his 60s now, but last year i was a bit lazy, my dad came down to do the Half-Marathon and absolutely showed me up and got a brilliant time.
“I was just there on the sideline clapping everyone on, and it really inspired me to take a look at myself and get myself sorted out and this year we both did it together!”
After his new born daughter spent some time at the John Radcliffe hospital with the support of SSNAP, Andy felt inspired to fund raise for charity.
Andrew Baker MBE, didn’t run the race, but played a significant role in helping out being the founder of one of the charities, Play2Give.
Play2Give is a charity that focuses on ‘changing, transforming and saving lives’ by hosting various campaigns such as football tournaments and bingo nights.
He said: “We were really lucky to have two representatives from Play2Give, the Oxford Half-Marathon is a fantastic event.”
After a record breaking event, next year’s race is set to be another special day for local charities in the community.
Listen below for some Oxford Half-Marathon stories.
