Law and District AAC members in action for fundraising

With people around the UK at last enjoying more freedoms thanks to gradual easing of coronavirus lockdown, one such beneficiary has been Law and District Amateur Athletics Club.
Pictured from left are Bobby Campbell, Carol Campbell and Brian McNicol who all participated in The Tokyo Trail (Submitted pic)Pictured from left are Bobby Campbell, Carol Campbell and Brian McNicol who all participated in The Tokyo Trail (Submitted pic)
Pictured from left are Bobby Campbell, Carol Campbell and Brian McNicol who all participated in The Tokyo Trail (Submitted pic)

With Law and District AAC training having recommenced at the beginning of April, after being suspended for lockdown from the week before Christmas, everyone at the club was really pleased and relieved to be back out on track.

Club secretary Lesley McNicol told the Carluke and Lanark Gazette: “Throughout lockdown we have been trying to keep our members engaged and active by providing Zoom sessions for pilates, strength and conditioning, circuits etc.

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"We also came up with an idea of a virtual challenge during the month of February, called PatKellyothon, where the challenge was to walk or run a mile a day throughout the 28 days.

"Everyone posted their achievement on a F acebook page and we had over 80 participants, some as far away as Wales, walking and running in rain, hail, snow, wind and occassionally sunshine! Pat Kelly is our head c oach and the challenge was named after him.

“Due to the success of the PatKellyothon, we created another virtual challenge for the month of April, The Tokyo Trail, where athletes, coaches, friends and family pledged a number of miles each to run or walk throughout April, to cover a total of 5772 miles from John Cumming Stadium in Carluke to the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

“We had 105 people signing up to the challenge and at the end of day 17 we had all covered the 5772 mile distance to the Tokyo Olympic Stadium!

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"Every time we arrived in a new country from the UK to Tokyo we would receive an information pack with 10 facts on the area, kindly created by club board member Rich Beattie. Having arrived in Tokyo much earlier than expected, we decided to turn around and walk or run home again.”

By April 30, members had had covered all but 1700 miles home with many people smashing their mileage pledges. A phenominal £1500 was raised for Chris's House, an amazing local mental health charity.

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