The double marathon man!
Autism Awareness Week is just a couple of weeks away and once again, we are hoping to take the opportunity to highlight our work in Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge even though our plans have been affected by the current restrictions. Fund raising during a pandemic has proven to be very challenging, but not for Paul Taylor from Romford, who has decided that he’s going to run 100km in seven days to raise money for Sycamore Trust. For the uninitiated, that’s around 64 miles, or to put it another way, roughly the distance from the Autism Hub in Romford to Colchester town centre!
Fortunately, Paul is in good shape, having run three or four times a week throughout the lockdown period, which is just as well, as he’s going to have to average around nine miles a day for a week. Paul considered a number of different distances before settling on the 100km. He explained; “We know that Autism Awareness Week is coming up, and I wanted to something challenging. I run at the moment, so I thought I might do 7 miles a day for a week but I thought that might not be difficult enough, so I decided to go for 100km in seven days, which is about two and half marathons! Hopefully it will attract some attention and you have to give yourself a decent target. I’m not going to go for times, I’m just aiming to get to that distance.”
Paul and his wife Jemma brought their daughter Olivia along to Sycamore in 2018 for some help from our Speak With A Picture team and we were able to support Olivia with our communication programme. Now almost six, she’s making great progress, but Paul and his wife know that it’s a lifelong journey. “Sycamore Trust has given Olivia another avenue to communicate with us, and even though she’s getting better and better, we still want to stay involved. It’s a building process and we never forget the help she received. Me running 100km seems like a struggle, but it’s nothing compared to what they have to do every day. Autism isn’t something that goes away, it’s going to be with us forever, and it will be with all the other children that you help forever, and they are always going to need support. And it’s always nice to help a local charity, then you can see the difference it makes to local people.”
Paul and Jemma have supported the charity in the past, making a generous donation last summer after a collection at the funeral of Jemma’s mother, who sadly passed away in 2020 and Paul is hoping that his efforts will help the charity with another sizeable sum. He’s no stranger to running, having completed the Havering half marathon in 2019, but the 35 year old has never done anything like this. Mind you, he’s given it plenty of thought, and he’s hoping that friends and family might join him and help him along each day. He concluded; “I have a rough plan. I’m planning on around 13km for the first five days because I have to schedule it around work as well! Then I’m going to finish big on the Sunday with a half marathon! I might try to finish in Raphaels Park so the family can meet me there.”
It really is a marathon task that Paul has taken on and Sycamore Trust are very grateful for all the help the family has given them. If you would like to help Paul with his fundraising efforts, go to https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/PaulTaylor255
