The one millionth runner will cross the finishing line this year – it could be you!
Ballot for places now open – PLEASE APPLY NOW!
The Jubilee Debt and Stop AIDS campaigns are two of the most effective movements in history in the fight against destitution and disease, and you can add your weight to them both – and enjoy a ‘fantastic experience’ – by joining the university’s acclaimed ‘Drop the Debt and Stop AIDS’ team for its 12th glorious year in the Great North Run.
“It is fabulous what you are achieving to lift people out of poverty!”
(Tamsin Fraser, Oxfam, January 2014)
“Had a brilliant day… for a fantastic cause!” “The Run was a fantastic experience!” “One of the most amazing experiences of my life!” (Past team members)
THIS IS WHAT YOU DO!
- Go to www.greatrun.org/events/ and click on “BUPA Great North Run” on the left
- Go through the conventional registration process (“Register a new Great ID”, etc., or use your previous password, etc., if you’re an old hand)
- Under “Running for a charity”, scroll down to find “Other”. Click on that
- PLEASE LET ME KNOW when you’ve entered, AND AGAIN if you’re successful, so I can arrange for you to join our team
- Please commend the initiative far and wide – it’s more fun to train with one or two friends
- Queries? Just email me: david.golding@ncl.ac.uk
BRIEFING
- Major national agencies say our initiative is “wonderful… fantastic”, “outstanding”, “hugely important”, “admirable… fantastic”, “wonderful… so grateful”. (Yes, really!)
- “The sort of intelligently compassionate response I applaud” (Professor Sir George Alberti, former President of the Royal College of Physicians).
- Ultra-generous concessions for students – we pay out many hundreds of pounds in rebates for entry fees each year, without using a penny of the money raised by the team! (See below.)
- The Great North Run is the greatest mass-participation community and sporting event on earth and is watched live on BBC TV by tens of millions of people. Look for yourself at the pictures on the website and you’ll see what I mean – it’s a truly great experience!
- You don’t have to be an athlete – it’s a ‘run’, not a ‘race’. I did it ‘for the first and last time’ in 2010 to celebrate my 70th!
- Last year the team raised over £10,000, bringing our total to over £152,000. That makes us one of the Debt Campaign’s major funders nationally AND would be enough to also prevent the infection at birth with HIV of 10,000 babies!
NOTES
GENEROUS CONCESSIONS: Ultra-generous concessions for students – rebate on cost of entry (£50.00) of up to 200% (yes, really!), depending on funds raised! [This scheme is specially and separately financed by members of university staff.]
EXCELLENT SUPPORT: I arrange advice for training: support for fundraising; social get-togethers; and pre- and post-Run photo-opportunities (usually supported by the Vice-Chancellor or his deputy, President of the Students’ Union etc.).
GLOBALLY EFFECTIVE: In Autumn 2011, I visited Africa ‘for the first and last time’, and saw for myself the enormous, beneficial impacts of debt relief on schooling, health care and clean water and the fight against HIV/AIDS. But truly daunting problems remain.
EFFICIENT AND ACCOUNTABLE ADMIN: My wife, Veronica, and I do the administration, but deduct no expenses whatever (not even postage for all the t-shirts). All the money goes to Jubilee Debt Campaign, a bona fide national charitable trust, and they pay out 50% of it to UK aid agencies and the Stop AIDS Campaign. Each runner chooses his or her own agency. Dedicated bank account; accounts subjected to annual independent audit.
FORMALITIES
I organise the team for Jubilee Debt Campaign at Newcastle University (which is sponsored by the Students’ Union and all the staff unions), in association with North East CALL TO ACTION. Our Patrons are Prof Chris Brink, Vice-Chancellor; Prof Sir George Alberti, a former President of the Royal College of Physicians; and Jonathan Edwards CBE, the Olympic Gold Medallist.
CONTACT DETAILS
Dr David Golding CBE (david.golding@ncl.ac.uk)
David W. Golding CBE PhD DSc DCL
Associate, Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability,
and Honorary Chaplain, Newcastle University.
Development Coordinator, North East CALL TO ACTION;
Founder Board Member, Jubilee Debt Campaign UK;
Trustee, Blue Sky Trust (supporting people living with HIV in the North East).