AFC Wimbledon Minithon - Sunday 17 October 2010

There was an important development in the AFC Wimbledon Fundraising and Community calender recently - the running of the first AFC Wimbledon minithon. Actually, to be more accurate, it was our first running of a minithon started a couple of years ago by FC United of Manchester. It's become a big fundraiser for both their club and local charities and this year we were invited to run our own minithon at the same time as theirs. So from small acorns etc....

A plethora of 118 runners line up for the off!

Actually not such a small acorn as it turns out. Our first run produced over 70 hardy souls who 'ran walked or crawled' three miles around Morden Park on a Sunday morning, much to the interest and enlightenment of the local dog walkers. I've no idea how much would have been raised from this first run but thanks to sponsorship of Erik, Terry  and the other high-profile names, it would have to be a couple of grand at least! The sponsorship will be divided equally between the club's ground fund and the Mayor of Merton's Charities which comprise Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Wimbledon Civic Theatre Trust. The run was started by the Deputy Mayor of Merton who happens to have seen Wimbledon at both Plough Lane, Selhurst Park and Kingsmeadow, so her pedigree was impeccable for such an event.


To quote the official site

A glorious sunny day provided the perfect setting for the inaugural AFC Wimbledon Minithon on Sunday. Over 70 participants completed the course, the fastest being 12 year-old Alex Barbour from Wokingham (20 minutes, 19 seconds), closely followed by Jakub Stegner from Morden (20 minutes, 20 seconds).

All of the AFC Wimbledon management team completed the course, with Jason Moriarty leading the pack (20 minutes, 47 seconds). Terry Brown narrowly beat Stuart Cash (30 minutes, 50 and 51 seconds respectively), just a few minutes ahead of Erik Samuelson (34 minutes, 34 seconds). Simon Bassey and Mike Rayner, with young children in tow, posted a more leisurely time of 53 minutes, 6 seconds.

It will be some time before we know how much money was raised for the Trust's funds and the Mayor of Merton's charities but we will announce this as soon as we can. We do know, however, that over £700 has so far been pledged online for the management team. It is not too late to sponsor the management team - visit Minithon sponsorship if you wish to do so. In addition, Saturday's bucket collection raised £250.

The fundraising team would like to thank all who participated in, volunteered for or spectated at the minithon and all who provided sponsorship for the participants. We would also like to thank thinkFolio for sponsoring the event and Terry's Badges for designing and donating special commemorative badges for all who took part.