North London Half Marathon & Football Match for RefugeeYouth!

At the start of 2017, a group of 17 individuals signed themselves up to take on the North London Half Marathon on 12th March in support of RefugeeYouth.

Our running team included six young people, one staff member, one volunteer, one trustee and 11 friends of RefugeeYouth, all with varying levels of experience in running. Some had taken on half marathons and even marathons before, whilst for others, long-distance running was very new. Regardless of the levels of experience, it was clear that some training was in order!

Over the next three months, everyone taking part began their own training programmes, which for many included taking part in group runs and training sessions. RefugeeYouth began holding training sessions each Sunday morning and occasionally during the week too. These sessions were attended by not only the young people from APOW who were taking part in the half marathon, but also other young people who were keen to support the runners – and improve their fitness at the same time! Come rain or shine, our runners went to fitness sessions and ran timed laps around parks in Croydon, improving each week as the race in March edged closer.

With just over a week to go, members of APOW created some brilliant bright yellow t-shirts for the runners. These were produced by a very efficient team who printed ink designs onto the t-shits using a screen and a squeegee. Each t-shirt featured a motivational quote on one side and the red APOW logo on the other. Such a bold combination of colours would mean that we couldn’t be missed by our supporters on the day of the half marathon!

On race day, all 17 of us runners met at Wembley Park station for final preparations, words of encouragement and, of course, some pre-race photos with the brilliant RefugeeYouth banners that had been brought along too! The runners who had come from Croydon had met before 6am (far too early on a Sunday for some!), and a group of supporters from RefugeeYouth had followed not long after, bringing more banners and lots of enthusiasm with them.

The atmosphere at the start of the race was a mixture of excitement and nerves as we waited amongst thousands of others in the shadow of Wembley stadium. Running or walking for 13.1 miles was never going to be easy, but seeing the RefugeeYouth supporters waiting to cheer us on just a few miles into the course gave everyone the boost that they needed.

At the sixth mile we approached the Saracens’ Allianz Park rugby stadium, which featured huge screens that showed each runner’s name and live coverage of the runners passing the halfway mark. Running through this midway point gave us all a new surge of energy, and as we looped back on ourselves to return towards Wembley stadium we had the chance to cheer on our fellow runners in our yellow t-shirts as we crossed paths along the course.

After some exhausting hills around the tenth mile of the run, we could finally see Wembley stadium again, and were on the home straight. Running into the stadium and around the pitch towards a huge crowd of supporters is a moment that I doubt any of us will forget, and the relief of crossing the finish line after 13.1 long miles was huge!

However, for four members of our running team – including myself – completing the half marathon was only half the challenge. After a short rest and refuel, we made our way to Canons Park for our afternoon ladies’ football match for London Corinthians Football Club. We were due to face Camden Ladies, who were playing at their home ground and had four substitutes to roll on and off. Our team, on the other hand, had no substitutes, and four of us had already covered 21km that morning! Somehow, after a tense second half, we managed to pull off a 4-1 win, which felt like the best way possible to finish such a tiring but incredibly exciting day.

Despite the aches and pains of the following day – and believe me, we were very stiff! – the sense of achievement was huge. Everyone worked so hard towards the preparation of the event and helped us to raise a fantastic £2,142 for RefugeeYouth, making every step of the half marathon (and the football match) feel so worthwhile.

This is also only the beginning with plans for running and sports sessions to continue for RefugeeYouth encouraging healthy living and fitness for all involved. So watch this space for our next challenge…!

Alicia Gibbs, March 2017.

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