On Christmas day, Seb Hughes, whose parents, Amy and Paul, are long-standing members of Newport & District Running Club, completed a running challenge which had started on December 1st and ran throughout Advent. December 25th also happens to be Seb’s birthday, and this year he was celebrating his 11th birthday, which allowed him to run solo at parkrun for the first time (under 11s must run within arms-reach of an adult).
Seb’s mum, Amy, had previously “run advent” as part of her own personal running challenges, and this year Seb decided to take up the mantle himself, partly as part of his Chief Scout Silver Award personal challenge, but also to raise money for Dementia UK, a cause which means a lot to him as his Grandpa Derek suffers from dementia. The challenge that Seb set for himself was to run at least 2 kilometres each day.
He kicked off his challenge on 1 December at Telford Junior parkrun (a 2k version of parkrun, open to under-15s only, which takes place on Sundays), where he was first finisher in a time of 8 minutes, 10 seconds. 25 days of daily running later, he finished the challenge at Telford parkrun on Christmas Day, also his 11th Birthday, with a massive 5k PB of 21 minutes, 42 seconds.
At the time of writing (Boxing day morning!), Seb has raised over £1,400, smashing his initial £1000 target, with donations still rolling in. Anyone who wants to donate to Seb’s cause can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/amy-hughes-1733049895822?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL
Seb was supported on the day by his family, friends, and a large number of members of Newport & District Running Club, whilst he also got a shout-out from the Run Director during the event briefing, which resulted in a large round of applause from the 494 participants!
Newport & District Running Club 