Marathon man teacher ready for school run
APOPULAR teacher will dedicate a school day to running a sponsored marathon in aid of a food bank.
Dad-of-two Martin Parkes, head of PE at All Saints’ RC High School, A Voluntary Academy in Rawtenstall, has already raised more than £ 2,100 having increased his original target.
On February 12, Mr Parkes will start and finish his 26.2- mile run at the Haslingden Road school, but his route will take in all seven of its Rossendale Catholic feeder primary schools – stopping for about 10 minutes at each for photos
He said: “I am raising money for the Raft Foundation, who are a foodbank in Rossendale, providing food and other essentials for the most vulnerable and needy people in the Rossendale Valley.
“I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the fantastic support I have received so far!
“I am not a runner and have never ran a marathon before, but have plenty of sporting experience, mainly as a semiprofessional footballer.”
Mr Parkes, who has been at the school for 11 years, says he will be visiting the primaries in “a slightly peculiar order” in order to make up the marathon distance. Leaving All Saints’ on the school bell at 8.30am, he will head to Our Lady and St Anselm’s, Whitworth, then on to St Joseph’s, Stacksteads and St Mary’s, Bacup.
From there he will move on to St Peter’s, Newchurch and St Veronica’s, Helmshore. He will complete the run with visits to St James The Less, Rawtenstall and St Mary’s, Haslingden – before returning to All Saints’ hopefully for the final bell at 2.40pm.
He will also be partially accompanied along the route by a couple of colleagues running and cycling, and hopes is overall running time excluding planned stoppages will be around four and a half hours.
The Raft Foundation delivers food parcels throughout the whole of Rossendale, and has an ongoing fundraising link with All Saints.
Mr Parkes, who is married to Hannah has two young children Thea and Rory, aged four and one, who he says “keep him very busy at home”.
On his Justgiving page, Mr Parkes wrote: “Since Covid- 19 arrived weekly total meals delivered have increased to up to 2,500 in one week with all the work undertaken by volunteers collecting and delivering to neighbours experiencing hard times, in their own cars.”
The Free Press found out about the fundraiser from one of Mr Parkes’ Year 7 students.
The pupil, 12, said: “I am writing to tell you about an amazing thing my PE teacher Mr Parkes is doing.
“He’s a great teacher and a good man.
“Please could you write about this in your paper so that everyone knows what an amazing thing he is doing and hopefully it will help him to raise more money for a great cause.”
To donate search for ‘Martin Parkes’ on justgiving.com and follow link from the Crowdfunders section.