Charity | Posted on July 19th, 2024 | return to news
Lee takes on 12 half marathons in 12 months for Dorset charity
Lee Ward’s daughter is supported by Diverse Abilities, Dorset’s disability charity, and he is fundraising for the charity to say thank you.
As if running six half marathons in six months isn’t enough, Lee Ward is determined that his 12-month total will be 12 half marathons.
Lee is raising funds for Diverse Abilities, as his daughter Amelia has been supported by the charity since she was two years old when she started at Langside School’s Caterpillar Club. At the age of five, Amelia started at Langside School full time and has gone all the way through the school, finishing in summer 2023. During this time, Amelia has also stayed at Lily’s Place respite home, giving her family a much-needed rest, whilst Amelia gets to take part in the activities she enjoys whilst being cared for by staff that she knows well.
Amelia is now 19, and is transitioning from the children’s team as she gets ready to access adult services. This is a big change for everyone, but Diverse Abilities has a specialist Transitions team to ensure that these changes go smoothly.
Lee ran his first half marathon for Diverse Abilities back in October 2023 at the Run Bournemouth Half Marathon, which inspired him to think about what else he could do to raise money and awareness for the charity, leading to his plan to run 12 half marathons in 2024.
Since January, Lee has completed half marathons in Farnborough, Weymouth, Bristol, two in Southampton and a virtual half marathon.
Lee said: “My daughter Amelia has been so well supported for many years at Diverse Abilities. I wanted to really challenge myself to find a small way of ‘giving-back’ in terms of me supporting this amazing charity along with raising awareness for the fantastic work they do.
“By doing these runs throughout 2024 and wearing the t-shirt with pride, it has been, and continues to be, a huge physical challenge for me. I take motivation and inspiration to achieve this target for each and every one of the team at Diverse Abilities.
“In April 2023 I could not even run 5k, so I have made big personal progress and I’m now training on average 10k a day.”
To sponsor Lee, you can go onto justgiving.com, or if you would like to take on your own challenge, find out more at diverseabilities.org.uk/dsa.
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