On Saturday 4 June 2016 fundraising legend & Northeast Legend Tony the Fridge began his latest epic fundraising effort supporting ourselves & Sarah’s Hope Foundation by attempting a journey of 1320 miles carrying the his trusty 42kg Smeg Fridge. The challenge to run 100 Great North Runs in 100 days. carrying a Fridge!
Tony has already ran thousands of miles with his trusty fridge for numerous charities and was awarded a prestigious Britain in Pride Award for his efforts.
Speaking about his challenge Tony Said “I will run as near as possible the exact Great North Run route every day from 4 June until the official Great North Run on 11 September 2016. Which means I will be running a Half Marathon carrying a 93lb Smeg Fridge every day for over 14 weeks! As you may already know in 2012 I ran 30 GNR’S in 30 Days and only just made it to the end. This time the fridge is heavier and the journey is off the scale!
I will be running in the main on an evening so that anybody training for this year’s GNR can join me for a few miles and a chat. I expect the toll on my body and mind is likely to be enormous and the journey we can safely say fits into the category of impossible, but I believe in the youth of today as they are the future of our community.”
The relationship between Tony & BCT Aspire began through twitter with Tony supporting BCT’s Founder Paul Burgum’s own epic walk across Italy, with the pair going on to support each other in their own endurance fundraising events, with Tony helping Paul achieve his recent Hardmoors 160-mile race on the North York Moors.
The connection has then been further cemented with Tony’s son Rocco attending BCT’s music groups learning to play both the guitar and the Cajon. This is despite the pair having to regularly travel from Newcastle to Billingham. This has given Tony a chance to see what the organization does week in week out.
About BCT Aspire Tony said “BCT Aspire gives hope, self esteem, confidence and a sense of belonging to young people of all abilities and backgrounds. Please be as generous as you can afford for this fantastic community organisation.”
There are plans for Paul and the team from BCT to directly support Tony, with Paul running with Tony on Day 12 and going on to say “Tony is one of my own hero’s so it’s both an honour personally to call him a friend, but also for him to see and understand what we are trying to do with our youth and community work. Having done a fair few endurance challenges I get how massive this challenge is for Tony. To simply run a half every day for 100 is a fair challenge, but when you add that fridge, which is very heavy it is simply unbelievable, however I do believe 1000% and we will all do everything we can do to make sure he achieves it”.
Currently running 3 sessions a week BCT aims to use the funding to develop further youth sessions and the development of its Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme. Aiming to be able to provide the required kit to all who may wish to undertake the highly respected qualification.
To support Tony & BCT Aspire you can donate at the following link https://localgiving.org/fundraising/100greatnorthruns
You can follow Tony’s progress on social media at:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/tony_the_fridge
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TonyTheFridge
