Wetherby lads recreate Great North Run in back yard to fundraise for Y Care International

10 October 2002

Teams of athletes from Wetherby Young Offenders’ Institution put on their running shoes in support of their South African peers last week.

Outdoor relay event

The 20 young men staged their own Great North Run on Friday 4 October with an outdoor relay event around the perimeter fence of their gym.

“Four laps make a mile, and they ran in five teams of four. After an hour and a half, the team to have covered the most laps won,” explained Erik Peeters, project worker for the YMCA’s Partnership in Prisons programme.

Money will provide training and hope for future

The young men asked staff, family and friends for sponsorship. The money they raised went to Y Care International’s ‘Sakhithemba’ project near Durban, South Africa, which offers rehabilitation to former young offenders on parole.

“The project provides training and hope for the future, and it is apt that in Zulu Sakhithemba means ‘building hope’,” said Mr Peeters. “It is the sort of service that is woefully lacking across South Africa, and the Wetherby lads were very keen to support it.”