A TEAM at from a Binley business has completed a virtual half-marathon to raise almost £3,500 for the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance (WNAA).
Last year TalentTech announced the lifesaving service as its charity of the year, and fund-raising plans were put in place but – due to the coronavirus pandemic – all events were sadly cancelled.
The passionate team wanted to show their continued support and decided to carry over their partnership with the charity into 2021 setting their first fund-raising challenge as the Coventry Half Marathon, aiming to raise £1,500.
John Ahearne, executive recruiter and founder of TalentTech, sad: “It all started in 2019 when we became established and chose WNAA to be our 2020 charity of the year.
“We wanted to connect with a local charity that we all felt makes a significant impact to people’s lives in their hour of need.
“In November last year I challenged TalentTech Director Nick Goodwin to run 1km as part of his weight loss programme.
“Nick completed two miles, so we then decided to enter into the Coventry Half Marathon.”
With restrictions halting the official Coventry Half Marathon, the TalentTech team didn’t let that stop them or their fund-raising, and they decided to run their own virtual event.
What started as a team of five, soon became a team of 24 runners as Nick and John began to garner interest from friends around the country, and on the day of the challenge – the team had runners donning the air ambulance yellow in Brighton, Coventry, London, Stourbridge, York, Fylde, Stratford and even Dubai.
The team of runners smashed their initial target and raised over £3,400 for the 24/7 frontline service which delivers the highest level of critical care across the West Midlands and further afield.
“We have now raised a total of £3,441 and it’s still growing – we are delighted to have raised enough for two potentially lifesaving missions,” said John.
WNAA fund-raising executive Lee Bunting added: “I am thankful to the TalentTech team that, rather than cancel their plans when the event was cancelled, they used their initiative and desire to raise funds for the charity and decided to take on the challenge themselves.
“I’m also grateful to all of those who joined them in this challenge to help bring in extra donations and additional awareness of our charity – a special mention must go to Nick Goodwin whose journey has been inspirational as he ran his first two miles just four months ago, so to then run 13 miles in March, is a huge achievement.
“I really enjoy working with the team at TalentTech and we have already discussed their future challenges, including our Earth, Wind and Fire series!”
Anyone wishing to support the charity or for further information can visit www.theairambulanceservice.org.uk or call 0300 3045 999.
