Jersey Athletics Club Supports Food Bank with Festive Race Event

An athletics club in Jersey utilized its holiday 5km (3.1 miles) race to provide assistance to a food bank for the first time. The Jersey Spartan Athletic Club requested participants to contribute items to the Grace Trust in lieu of an entry fee for the competition held at the Waterfront. The organization aims for this initiative to become a yearly custom, assisting individuals requiring support during the Christmas period. The event featured a handicap format, allowing participants with slower paces to start earlier, while faster runners began at specific intervals determined by their prior results. Katie Cartwright, a representative of the club, assisted in coordinating the event and recorded the runners’ times. She stated “we understand how difficult it can be” at this period of the year and “we just want to bring some joy to the people of Jersey”. Ms Cartwright further commented: “We’ve had more than 45 runners turn up and each has brought more than one tin each, which is amazing.” Participants ranging from 15 to 75 years of age competed in the activity on Tuesday. Ismail Mahmood, aged 32, secured victory in the race, completing it in 23 minutes and 42 seconds. Nevertheless, factoring in the handicap, his recorded time was 39 minutes and 12 seconds. He remarked that it was “the first time I’ve ever won” and that “I have been running since August and it’s been something I’ve enjoyed doing”. “Spartans are really good to me and really inspiring because they all help and we’re all part of this sporting family,” Mr Mahmood further stated. For updates, follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Story ideas can be submitted to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for material found on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.