Ben and crew do it for Wings4Kidz

Last Sunday, on a perfect Autumn morning, this crew supported Ben Jones at Newcastle’s Annual Running Festival. Everyone competed in the 10km Hill to Harbour race. Ben, manager of Allambi’s Learning and Development Team said, “I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t a bit of a challenge. I’m a keen ‘Park Run’ bloke who enjoys an easy five kilometres. I guess I only have to complete two parks runs so what could possibly go wrong? Actually, who am I kidding, park run isn’t easy and it’s only half of this run . . . ”

Ben and his supporters ran for Newcastle’s Wings4Kidz, a registered charity which provides free regional flight services to children and families with serious and life-threatening illnesses. Ben was asked by his mate to get involved and did so without thinking twice despite never having run 10 kilometres before. Ben says helping the children out is his motivation.

'Look, running 10 kilometres is not as bad as the long car journeys these kids have to go through. Sometimes this is a weekly journey and the stress on all is immense. I’ll only be stressed for about 50-minutes doing this run,' he said with a wink.

Big thank you to Creer Property at Charlestown for their support towards this great charity too.

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Ben went on to say:

'I’ve bribed my entire Learning and Development team to either come along and run or make a small donation. I threw out a challenge to the Allambi ‘Suit Crew’. . . I heard Brett Smith has been pounding the paths of Warners Bay and the trails of Glenrock. So, he has to be in. Simon seems to be all over riding his bike for Allambi in events, so perhaps it’s time he came and did some serious work. Plus I heard there were beers at the end . . .'

Ben says he has also had some amazing support from Family and Early Intervention Programs Director, Kelly-Lee.

'Kelly has rallied some Outreach team members as well as people from her gym who have all contributed to raising funds for those that desperately need it.'

'I could not think of a better cause or more appealing charity. Someone much wiser than me once said, ‘When doing kind things for others, we do kind things for ourselves.'

For more information about Wings4Kidz or to offer a donation please head to https://wings4kidz.org.au