Fans took part in a three mile race to raise money for the club’s Kingsmeadow Ground fund and the Mayor’s charities
By Tim Williams
AFC Wimbledon’s inaugural ‘Run, walk or crawl’ mini-thon took place in Morden Park on Sunday afternoon.
The three mile race was inspired by FC United of Manchester who run the event along with various other supporter groups in cities such as Los Angeles and Sydney.
The charity money raised from sponsorship for the event will be split equally between a fund to repay debts on AFC Wimbledon’s Kingsmeadow ground and the Mayor’s charities, which this year include Macmillan Cancer Support and Wimbledon Civic Theatre Trust.
Turnout for the event was impressive, including AFC Wimbledon manager Terry Brown and several club staff amongst a throng of willing runners, young and old.
The under-18 race was won by 12-year-old Alex Barbour from Wokingham, who completed the three mile course in 20 minutes and 19 seconds, which was the quickest time of the day. This just beat the fastest adult Jakub Stegner from Morden, who finished just a second later in 20 minutes and 20 seconds (pictured collecting his certificate from Dons Trust board member Tom Adam).
The fancy dress portion of the day was won by 8-year-old Charlie Smith who ran dressed as a runner from the ‘118’ television adverts.
It is not yet known how much money was raised as it has not all been collected, but event organiser Mark Davis claimed the event had received a lot of support and as a result there was every chance the run could be repeated in the future.
Mr Davis said: “We won’t know the amount of money raised for quite a while to be honest but I have heard of a couple of individuals who have pledges of a couple of hundred pounds.
“There is every chance we could repeat this next year, hopefully with an even bigger turnout.”
