For a long time a fundamental tenet of charity fundraising is that people will be willing to give money to charity in exchange for knowing somebody has run a medium to long distance, possibly while wearing a funny costume. There’ve been plenty of these, ranging from the Run for Life run in aid of breast cancer charities, to the numerous people who get sponsored to run the London Marathon. Of course, as time goes on it’s only natural that people will become jaded by simply watching people run from one place to another. They’ll demand more and better ways of seeing people run from one place to another. Fortunately, we have such things at our disposal.
So if you want to take your charity fun run to the next level why not try:
Running Dressed as a Gorilla
Sometimes the best ideas are the most straight forward. Such is the case with the Great Gorilla Run, on the 21st of September 2013. The Great Gorilla Run is, when you get right down to it, a bunch of people running a race through the centre of London, while all dressed in gorilla costumes. The aim of the run is to raise money for the conservation of gorillas in West and Central Africa, which, given the costumes, may end up looking weirdly self-serving.
Still, we can’t help but wonder if someone just wanted to see hundreds of gorillas rampage through the centre of London and only decided on the charity afterwards.
Being a Real Hero
Running a race for charity is a genuinely heroic thing to do, but sometimes it doesn’t feel that way. Particularly because you don’t get to wear tights, a cape, and your underpants on the outside.
But thanks to the Heroes Run, you can now enjoy these very privileges. The aim of Heroes Run is to raise money for a charity helping to support education in Africa, which is the sort of heroic thing Batman might do, so you might as well do it in a Batman costume.
In fact, Batman is a multi-billionaire who spends all his money finding yet more expensive toys to beat up poor people in alleyways while doing nothing to help educate African children. If anything, running this race in a Batman costume will make you MORE BATMAN THAN BATMAN. Think about that for a second.
Race for (Your) Life
If there’s one thing missing from your average charity fun run it’s a sense of heart-stopping, life-endangering terror. Or to put it another way- zombies. Run For Your Lives is just like your typical fun run, except you’re being chased by slathering zombies. There’s a number of ways you could get sponsored for this. You could either be sponsored as a survivor, getting money depending on how long you stay alive, or you could be sponsored as a zombie, getting money for how many humans you eat. Both are great ways to enjoy a life and death struggle while doing the essential charity jobs of raising awareness and cash!
Sam Wright is a freelance writer and running fanatic.
Really amazing races. I think the kids would love the gorilla race. Not sure about the run for your life race, seems a little spooky.
Ha!ha! Awesome gorilla ballerina.
That Great Gorilla Run looks like a lot of fun!