A Pitch Too Far - Marie's Sport Relief Challenge!

100% Pure Womble!

If you've been following the community blog for any length of time I'm sure you'll be familiar with Marie from High Path. Marie is a 100% AFC Wimbledon supporter and it was her initial design that was adapted for the High Path Super Dons flag. She is also taking part in the Big Blast Band project and was most recently seen having her contribution on the keyboards recorded as part of the High Path version of 'We Are Wimbledon'. She often comes to games at the Cherry Red Records Stadium as part of the High Path outreach programme and will be there next for the game against Morecambe.

OK, that's who Marie is, but equally important is what she's going to do...

Marie had been thinking about doing something for Sport Relief to help people who were less fortunate than herself, but she couldn't think what to do. Although she enjoys watching AFC Wimbledon Marie hasn't had the opportunity for much sport herself so she asked Andy, the High Path outreach worker, if she could do a sponsored run, even though she'd never run before!. Although Andy thought this would be a real achievement for Marie, he was a bit concerned that she wouldn't be able to manage the full Sport Relief Mile but he wanted to encourage Marie and was trying to think how it could be a special event and something she could remember with pride for years to come
. 

Marie's famous
"I object to Chelsea shirts..." speech

After some thought we came up with the perfect answer - Marie's Wimbledon Pitchside Sprint! 


Marie is going to come to AFC Wimbledon's Cherry Red Records Stadium - Kingsmeadow and she is going to attempt to run a whole circuit of the pitch. The first time she ever went on to a football pitch was when the High Path flag was unveiled so this will only be her second time on the hallowed turf. That's all she thought would be happening, but we thought we could spice it up a little
. 
First of all, we thought we'd invite the other High Path Super Dons to cheer her on.


Then we thought it might be nice to ask Terry Brown to see if he might man the yellow and blue checkered flag to see her off and to wave her over the finish line. 


And finally (as we thought she could probably do with a bit of support along the way) we thought we might invite her favourite player to run alongside her. So we are hoping that Seb Brown might be available on the day to keep her company.

"We Are Wimbledon - Up & At 'Em, Here She Goes!"

Now it is entirely possible that neither Terry nor Seb are yet aware of their crucial role in all of this as they are being approached through 'the usual channels' and that might not have caught up with them yet. However Marie's Sport Relief page is now up, running and accepting donations so if you would like to 'Help Marie Help Others' then she would be very grateful for any support you can provide.


AFC Wimbledon will also be helping the clients at High Path with their own Sport Relief  fundraising, involving the inflatable shooting range and the speed gun. Details of that particular event will appear closer to Sport Relief night. However, Marie's request for a solo fund-raising effort shows great character and self-belief and the AFC Wimbledon Community Team are happy to back her 100%. We don't have a date fixed yet for Marie's run, but it may well be near the end of February rather than mid-March, which is why we are looking to start collecting now. Besides, if you sponsor Marie now, you can enjoy the rest of Sport Relief without a pang of guilt!


If you do decide to support Marie, can I thank you on her behalf and you might want to wish her luck yourself at the Morecambe game!