CASBA’s second 500 mile challenge has been another huge success. Thank you to everyone who took part and helped us to raise over £3,000 – this money will make a huge difference to us.

We did it differently this year. Last year, we had lots of guided walks and a big sponsored walk along the canal to Birmingham City Centre. This year, we asked people to do their own challenges and we had some brilliant results.

Our top fundraiser this year was 10-year old Sid Peacock, who took on a 50-mile bike ride over two days. He only learnt to ride his bike last year, so this was a big challenge. He did fantastically and raised over £1,000 including gift aid cycling to Sutton Park one day and Waseley Hills the next. He came in to get an award this week and spoke to Saleha Akhter about his achievements:

He wasn’t the only person who did brilliantly. Sophia Araf and her son Zaki walked 10 miles a day and raised an incredible £762.50 including gift aid. She said: “Zaki my little 13 year old son and I aim to contribute towards the 500 mile challenge. CASBA is a fantastic charity that carries out wonderful work for people with learning disabilities.”

We are so grateful to them and if they get in touch, we’d love to present them with certificates, too!

Last year’s top fundraisers, Stella Plisner and her family, put in a superb effort once again. They raised nearly £500 with gift aid – doing the full 500 miles as a family!

Our first ever corporate team also put in a great effort – thank you very much to Faye, Alex and Danni from SCC, who raised £440 between them, including gift aid.

Our Ambassadors also took part in the Wheel n’ Walk event with lots of other charities in Cannon Hill Park. This was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with other people with a range of disabilities.

We also had Matt Pountney raising money for us in the Birmingham Half Marathon. It would be great if a few more runners could do the same next year!

Fundraising like this is really important for CASBA and every pound raised helps us to do so much more, so thank you once again to everyone who’s walked, run and cycled to support our work.