Trustee ran Barcelona marathon to raise money for clean water charity

The early winter morning runs, aching limbs and blisters could not stop Temi Odurinde from running the Barcelona Marathon on the 12^th of March, in aid of Hope Spring, a Herefordshire based WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) charity.

Temi Odurinde, 56, of Kingsthorne, Herefordshire ran the 26.2-mile race in early April, after just over three months of training. When thinking of an endurance race to run as a fundraiser for Hope Spring, Temi thought of the London Marathon. He was not successful at the ballot to get a place in the London Marathon, so he turned his attention to the Barcelona marathon. He said securing a place to run the Barcelona marathon is straightforward, compared to securing a place in the London or Berlin marathons.

Temi, who is not completely new to long distance running, completed the 26-mile race in 4 hours 40 minutes. He said, “It was not my best race, I had not prepared properly, so after the halfway mark I was basically exhausted so I slowed down significantly”. He had his marathon personal best at Paris marathon in 2012 when he completely the race in 3 hours 54 minutes.

Raising money for Hope Spring Water

Temi, who regularly runs with the Hereford Runners and the Wye Valley Runners running clubs, raised £503.00 for the Hope Spring Water charity. He said he could not have raised the funds without the support of people from his two running clubs, his family and friends. “When Gift Aid is added to the total funds I raised, Hope Spring could easily build two wells in Africa with that”. “The wells will provide clean drinking water for at least five hundred people”, he added.

Hope Spring Water uses BT’s fundraising platform to collect donations for Temi Odurinde’s marathon and other fundraising events. BT MyDonate is one of the few fundraising platforms that do not charge charities for using their platforms. Temi’s marathon fundraising page will remain live on BT’s MyDonate page for the next 3 months. You can still support him by visiting his fundraising page on BT’s website: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/temiodurinde ,

To find out more information about how Hope Spring help developing communities in Africa to access safe, clean water, please visiting their website. You can connect with them on most social media pages, including Google Plus.