John Carragher and Michael Powell raised more than £50,000 to go towards refurbishing the running track at Rimrose Valley. John and Michael took on a test of physical and mental endurance by running four miles every four hours for seven days – a total of 168 miles.
It ended with tired bodies and minds but an immense amount of pride and an exceptional amount of money raised by John and Michael during the event which started on Friday 23rd April at 8pm and finished at 4pm on Friday 30th April.
The community really came to the fore to support the boys on this extraordinary challenge with many runners joining on each leg of the challenge to help with motivation and encouragement.
Local celebrities also turned out in force at different times of the week. These included John’s brother, former Liverpool footballer turned Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher (pictured) and another past red, Stephen Warnock who is also a member of the Marsh Lane Harriers with some big personal running goals himself this year. Robbie Fowler surprised the team by turning up to a midnight run, while boxer Callum Smith, MMA fighter Paddy ’The Baddy’ Pimblett and former Everton midfielder Jose Baxter also joined runs to show their support for the cause.
Chairman John Carragher said: “We are delighted to hit our £50k target but the work is only starting now as we will do everything we can to fully restore the running track and provide exceptional facilities for everyone to use.
“It was a really tough challenge to keep going every 4 hours but to know we had the support of everyone in the community – and we could see how much money we were raising – really kept us motivated and energised.
Club Coach Michael Powell said: “We are absolutely blown away by the support. We can see the track becoming even more important this summer as the lockdown restrictions are eased and to know that we are in a position to keep improving the facilities makes us very proud.
“We were thrilled with how many people came out to support us on each run. It was crazy really that people would get out of bed to come along to do 4 miles at 4am. It really kept us going and I don’t think we could have done it without this amazing support.”
Donations are still being accepted as plans continue for the development of the area.
