Kentish Express Ashford & District
Trio tackle half-marathon – on children’s scooters
Women’s unusual challenge in aid of domestic abuse charity
Three childhood friends from Ashford are undertaking their toughest fundraising challenge so far.
Jacqi Snare, Jennie Matthews and Debbie Jolly frequently take part in various fitness challenges, but this time they are going all out to do something unusual by staging their own half-marathon around Ashford which they will complete on children’s scooters. The trio, who are set to complete the task on Sunday, June 18, are raising money for Rising Sun – a domestic abuse charity based in Canterbury.
Jacqi, who is a professional athletic coach alongside volunteering for Rising Sun, said: “We’ve always done silly challenges just to keep ourselves fit and we thought we needed something different. I had this idea a couple of years ago of doing it on a children’s scooter.”
The friends have carefully planned the 13.1 mile route, which starts in Kennington, includes a stop-off at the Julie Rose stadium.
There they will scoot several laps before gradually making their way to Victoria Park in Ashford where they finish.
Jacqi said: “Finding 13 miles on a footpath that doesn’t break up or ends up going on a main road was the hardest thing.
“The route is going to take l onger than we originally thought. We’re looking at about probably two and a half to three hours. It’s going to be harder than we thought it was but it’s not a challenge if it isn’t hard. As far as we know no one has ever done it before.”
The scooters, which have been donated to the trio, will be given to Ashford Refuge once the challenge is finished. So far the trio have raised £515 out of their £1,000 target.
‘Finding 13 miles on a footpath that doesn’t break up or ends up on a main road was the hardest thing’
For more information, or to donate, visit: www.justgiving.com/ fundraising/scooterhalfmarathon