Virgin London Marathon 2020 - Running for Sea-Changers
Are you passionate about the marine environment and want to take action to help?
Are you a runner who is looking for a challenge in 2020?
Can you commit to raising a minimum of £1500 for Sea-Changers through sponsorship?
Have you always dreamt of running the London Marathon?
If you think the above sounds like you get in touch. Sea-Changers have one place available for the Virgin London Marathon 2020 and we are looking for a very special individual to apply to run for us.
All we need is an expression of interest from you that explains why you want to run for Sea-Changers and how you will go about raising the sponsorship money. Just click on the link here, complete the short form, and submit it to us to register your interest. The closing date for expressions of interest will be the 15th of November.
We recognise training for and running a marathon is a big commitment, and raising £1500 is no small feat. So we will support you as much as we can along your marathon journey. Support will include:
Directing you to marathon training advice.
Discussing with you your fundraising strategy and providing social media and website support to get your messages across.
Providing a Sea-Changers Training/Running T Shirt.
We can't wait to hear from you. Just click here to register your interest.
Where will your money go?
Your money will make a huge difference to UK seas and shores and will contribute to our conservation grants fund. You could help to fund initiatives such as:
1) Restoring key species including pregnant lobsters and native oysters:
The National Lobster Hatchery (NLH) – a project that works with lobster fishermen who bring in pregnant female lobsters, which can carry in the region of 20,000 eggs. In the wild, only one of these would be expected to survive. NLH can improve this survival rate by about 1,000 times, which is good for lobster stocks and good for the fishermen too.
The Craignish Restoration of Marine and Coastal Habitats - This project aims to reintroduce a small colony of native oysters at Loch Craignish, Argyll, in order to monitor their potential for wild spawning and the future restoration of native oyster stocks. Care and monitoring of the young oysters will be conducted in conjunction with schoolchildren from Ardfern Primary School.
2) Assessing and backing UK marine protected areas and their residents, such as minke whales
We backed the Cetacean Rescue and Research Unit with their ongoing focal studies of minke whales in Scotland. This project is increasing understanding of the ecology and habitat requirements of coastal minke whales in the northeast Scottish waters. The data is being used to inform and assist in the implementation of the first ever Marine Protected Area proposed for these whales in UK inshore waters.
3) Preventing pollution and litter so that UK seas are cleaner:
Polzeath Marine Conservation Group, Cornwall installed an Outdoor Tubular Bottle Filling Station at the top of their beautiful beach. Visitors and locals both now have access to quick, easy, clean drinking water, without the need to buy non-reusable plastic bottles of water. In the first three months 2,000 litres were refilled – potentially saving the purchase of 4,000 plastic bottles.
4) Supporting tidal litter collectors and other innovative solutions:
The Institute of Marine Sciences at The University of Portsmouth has developed a ‘tidal bin’ demonstrator project, to examine the feasibility of using the power of the tides to collect marine litter. We have been a key partner from the very start of this project, with results widely shared so that others are encouraged to follow Portsmouth harbour’s example.