On Sunday, 13th September, the Great North Run will once again take place. We have been extremely lucky to have had some fantastic people take on the challenge to raise funds for us over the last three years. Once again, we are fortunate that a further 10 brave souls are running for us in this year’s event – each committed to raise £300. We will be at the finish line to support each and every one of them. They run in our shirts, supplied with our logo by Charles Dickens – a massive thank you to Craig at the store who organised them.
The atmosphere on the day is electric – it’s a huge personal challenge for all of the runners but the atmosphere, all along the course, is a joy and spurs everyone on. There may well be some aching muscles at the end of the race but some truly happy faces and somehow the sense of achievement just makes some want to do it time and time again. For one of our runners it’s his 10th run, for three of them this is the second time to run for us. Thanks everyone, good luck with the training and fundraising – fingers crossed for the weather and hope you all enjoy it!
If running the Great North Run is on your bucket list, we will have places next year, so please get in touch.
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Someone else who has set themselves a personal challenge, that will last the whole of this year, is Ian Bennions. Ian – owner of North East Toilet Cubicles, a Hartlepool-based business – has reached an incredible milestone in his year-long fundraising challenge, completing more than 20,000 press-ups in support of DS43 Community Defibrillators and Prostate Cancer UK. A long-time supporter of DS43, Ian has made a monthly donation to the charity for more than four years. In 2026, he decided to take his support even further by setting himself the challenge of completing 100 press-ups every day throughout the year.
By the end of 2026, Ian will have completed an astonishing 36,500 press-ups, with the aim of raising £3,000, to be shared equally between the two charities, both of which are close to his heart.
Having now passed the 20,000-press-up milestone, Ian still has 16,500 press ups to complete but remains firmly on track to achieve his goal before the end of the year.
Everyone at DS43 Community Defibrillators would like to thank Ian for his continued support over the past four years and congratulate him on his fantastic achievement. We wish him every success as he continues forward to the finish line.
If you would like to support Ian and help him reach his fundraising target, you can donate via his fundraising page: http://gofund.me/a7795005f.
Every donation, no matter how big or small, will help support two fantastic causes and make a real difference.
