Keep on running…..
Meet Carl Howes, Head of Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School, a keen runner and an energetic supporter of West London Action for Children.
Carl (or Mr Howes as he is known at school) says running is fundamental to his positive mental health. He is not alone. In a recent Runner’s World Twitter poll, 90.5% of respondents agreed. Carl says that whilst he also loves cycling and covering greater distances, it is running regularly, even for short distances, that particularly helps him to clear his head and always gives him a buzz afterwards.
As another busy school year draws to a close, I spoke to Carl about the incredible fundraising that he and his school community have done for WLAC during their first year of supporting us. They have already raised in excess of £30,000! This is a giant sum and for a relatively small local charity like WLAC, it is particularly significant. Each year we need about £500,000 to run our counselling and therapy services and help 500+ local families.
Carl told me that Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School has a long standing tradition of supporting charities. Every two years, parents can nominate good causes which are discussed and shortlisted by the Friends of RPPS Committee. Then it is the school children who make the final decision. The children each bring £1 into school and gather in the hall to watch a short film about each charity. Then they use their £1s to vote for the one they would most like to support. We were delighted that the children chose to support WLAC for 2022/23 and 2023/24. Carl explained that the charities that aren’t chosen are given their £1 vote donations so that they also receive some support. This struck me as such a thoughtful detail and indicative of the care and compassion that the RPPS community is so well known for.
Since deciding to support WLAC, the Friends of RPPS have been extremely busy with their programme of events which has included an annual quiz, auction, Christmas Fair, Year 6 Enterprise day, dress-up days and Parent Summer Party. We would like to thank all those involved! We know how much time and energy these events take to organise; we are truly grateful on behalf of the families that we help.
Carl has put his running and cycling into the mix. He explained that he had a ballot place for the London Marathon 2020 and was all trained and ready to run but the COVID lockdown unfortunately derailed his plans. He managed to run a marathon (in an extremely impressive 4hrs 42minutes!) at Dorney Lake (without any supporting crowds!) on the day that the official Marathon should have taken place. But he was determined to experience the full London Marathon and after a couple of postponements due to injury, he took his place at the starting line in Greenwich this April. Luckily for us, this coincided with the school supporting WLAC and his training blog and Just Giving Site drew in £3,145 from over 50 supporters and many messages of encouragement and support from the school community. It looks like he even involved the children in one of his training runs around Ravenscourt Park.
The race itself wasn’t without its challenges. The wet weather conditions were far from ideal and all the runners were already drenched at the start line. Carl also told me that he was recovering from eye surgery so he had not completed all the final training that he had previously planned. He said he felt a bit sluggish as the race began. However, no doubt buoyed by the support of the crowds and the adrenaline of this iconic event, plus his own dedicated support crew popping up at various stages of the route, he found his stride. However, Carl told me that at about mile 18 he felt his body change. He could tell from his watch that his pace was dropping and he said that he suddenly felt incredibly hungry. He realised that all his training had been done early in the mornings and he had always been home in time for lunch. However, on race day, he was still running way past his lunchtime! Fortunately Carl's support crew had prepared a bag of food options for him. He told me that when he saw them, he simply took the whole bag and spent the final few miles working his way through all the energy boosting snacks they had assembled. Carl said his supporters along the route made all the difference. He was determined to finish the race under 5 hours and managed to do so - with 20 seconds to spare.
Carl says he recovered from the marathon relatively quickly. He completed the Ford Ride London-Essex 100 cycling event in May and raised further sponsorship funds for WLAC. And he is now in training for the Great North Run (half marathon) in September.
We hope you get some well deserved rest over the Summer Carl!