As a life-long runner, shortly to move into the 75-80 age
group, my chances of success have increased somewhat with the diminishing number of my competitors. Don’t believe it though – I remain dead slow!
Now I am trying to put something back – I will run the Great North Run on Sunday 8th September to raise funds for the Climate Coalition, Stop AIDS Campaign, Jubilee Debt Campaign and Save the Children. It will be a genuinely inter-generational team effort!
While I am running for charity I also want to make the point that active ageing is possible. That’s my personal mission and part of my job at Newcastle. I will aim for a “good for age” time of sub 2 hours 5 minutes.
We are supporting good, deserving causes which I hope you will support. Child mortality is down from over 60% from 12.7 million p.a. in 1990, to 5.4 million in 2017. Such progress is without precedent in human history, but 15,000 children are still dying needlessly every day. Your support can help us crack it.
We in the rich countries are responsible for climate change. As the late Cardinal Basil Hume put it, “Those who could be blamed the least, the poorest people in the poorest countries, are suffering the most.”
Whether I succeed or not in my athletic goal, I will be running with other university colleagues and students in a big, diverse community effort to do some good. It would be great if you could help.
To donate, click here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Chris-Ball16