Take on distance of Great North Run in aid of Sunderland's St Benedict’s Hospice

With its usually busy summer of fundraising events cancelled, St Benedict’s Hospice in Ryhope has been hit hard by the pandemic.

Although it does receive NHS funding, the hospice relies heavily on fundraising and has lost tens of thousands of pounds in predicted fundraising.

Along with the help of local Olympian and hospice ambassador Aly Dixon they are now looking to enlist fundraisers to take on the challenge of completing the GNR distance of 13.1miles in the week that would have been the build up to the Great North Run.

They have created a free to enter event where every successful finisher will receive a hand-signed certificate from Aly as well as offering a number of incentives to encourage fundraising which includes chances to win some of Aly’s own running memorabilia, including her world record 50km trophy, her record breaking GNR running number and more.

Anthony McDermott, head of challenge events at St Benedict’s, said “It’s amazing how the general public have continued to support St Benedict’s Hospice over these recent challenging times and with the cancellation now of the Great North Run and many other key events, we have an even bigger hole to fill in revenue we have lost.

"Anyone who’s looking for a bit of a challenge and who could raise some money along the way, we’d love to hear from you.”

GNR is one of many of the hospice’s annual events to be cancelled, which also incudes the Sunderland Running Festival, their annual Sunflower Ball, the annual summer fayre, their proposed trip to India and more.

Despite this, people have been fundraising at home and their recent Sunflower Day, in which city landmarks such as Penshaw Monument were lit yellow, saw a fantastic return.

To get involved in running the GNR distance for the hospice visit www.stbenedicts.co.uk/fundraising/events or drop Anthony an email on

[email protected]

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