Hi Sunshine News Readers, we hope everybody is well. What a week it has been! On Wednesday, we finally hosted our long-awaited and much-loved Sunshine Run 5k on Newcastle Quayside, and we are delighted to say it was a huge success!
This year, for the first time, we introduced a new segment to our already popular event with The Sunshine Mile. We wanted to create a way for kids to get involved, so during the day we invited school groups to come down to the Quayside to complete a 1-mile walk to raise funds to support children with disabilities.
The day started with rain and clouds, but this did not stop us from setting up early. By the time schools arrived, the sun came out with blue skies that did not leave until the end of the day, making the perfect weather for the Sunshine Run and Mile.
We had over 100 kids from local SEND schools, Hadrian and Cleaswell Hill, and they came in full force to help spread sunshine down Newcastle Quayside, over the Swing Bridge, down past the Sage and Baltic Square, then back over the Millennium Bridge to receive a certificate and goodie bag.
This would not have been possible without our amazing team of morning volunteers from Accenture, Sage, and a few individuals, too, who ensured the school groups made it round the route safely. While we focused on The Sunshine Mile, we had a couple of volunteers helping to set up the course for the evening, led by our fantastic lead cyclist and course assistant, Jacob Brady from RunThrough. After a whirlwind morning full of smiles, laughter, dancing, and singing, the evening quickly came around and over 350 runners ascended Newcastle Quayside for our charity 5k. Runners came wearing their Sunshine Run t-shirts, creating a sea of yellow to really #PaintTheTOONYellow to support children with disabilities in the North East.
All funds raised from this event will go towards supporting our mission to deliver specialist and adapted equipment to children and young people living with disabilities, special educational needs, and complex medical conditions in North East England, enriching lives through equipment not provided by the NHS or local authorities.
We remove the barriers to independence, dignity, and full participation for disabled children by funding essential equipment that cannot be provided by statutory services. Our approach is child-centred, responding to the real, immediate needs of families, and yesterday showed us what we can do when a community comes together.
For the sixth year, the Sunshine Run was sponsored by Stagecoach, who share our values and are loyal supporters of our cause. Their staff work tirelessly to help us create brighter futures for local kids through fundraising, partnering on events, and running the Great North Run for us. As well as sponsoring the run, they also provided a free bag drop so runners could safely store their belongings. Steve Walker, managing director of Stagecoach North East, said: "We are incredibly proud to be supporting the Sunshine Run for the sixth year running. At Stagecoach, we are committed to connecting people and communities, and there is no better way to do that than by helping The Sunshine Fund provide life-changing equipment for local children. It is always an inspiring evening on the Quayside, and we cannot wait to see everyone at the start line."
Now, we have a lot more people to thank, starting with the 17 corporate teams that took part and submitted teams, and many of whom went the extra mile to fundraise for us. We had runners from: Ward Hadaway, Hay and Kilner, David Gray Solicitors, Armstrong Watson, Kingston Property, Winn Solicitors, Irwin Mitchell, Mincoffs, Arctic Wolf, Red Engineering, Dryden School, True Solicitors, Rathbones, RMT, New Park Court, and Mills and Co. We would also like to thank EventsUpNorth for setting up the start and finish line, managing the chip timing, and setting up our registration page. We would like to thank Tom Hanson from England Athletics for adjudicating our course, XL Medical for providing support in case of injuries, Total Resources for facilitating the road closure so we could keep runners and the general public safe during the works to the Tyne Bridge, and Hatton Traffic Management for providing cones free of charge. We would like to thank Newcastle City Council for allowing us to put on this event for another year, and to Pitcher and Piano, Quayside Garden, East Quayside Management, and NE1 for allowing use of their space. A huge thank you goes out to the Bangshees, a local female-led samba band who provided motivating music to get our runners past the finish line, and a massive shoutout goes to Sanco Pizza for providing prizes for our fastest male and female runners. Thank you also to Clare for leading our warm-up and getting everyone ready to run.
We would like to thank FareShare for donating 1,000 bottles of water so runners were hydrated and could cool down upon completion. A thank you goes to Aztec Clothing for producing our t-shirts, and to MedalStudio for producing our medals. And lastly, thank you to The Chronicle for capturing the event. All photos from the evening can be found on our Facebook @sunshinefund. If you would like to get in touch about how you could support us in any way, or if you would like to get involved next year, please contact us at hello@thesunshinefund.org.
Thank you for reading! Sophie x
