Great Bristol Run 2024: Two runners share the difference made by local charities

Thousands of runners will be raising money for charities during the annual AJ Bell Great Bristol Run, which takes place on May 19.

We had the opportunity to talk with 27-year-old Deanna Trace, who is joining the half-marathon, her first major running event, to raise funds for local charity Young and Free.

She first became aware of the charity’s impact while working as a carer during the pandemic and continues to volunteer for the cause while studying towards a software engineering apprenticeship.

"It's a small little charity in Bristol for adults with physical and mental impairment disabilities," she explained. "We run as a budding scheme, as well as arranging activities and stuff that we can do with them like going for meal time, theatre trips, holidays in the UK, and leg days trips and things like that.

"Our mission as a charity is to help young people with disabilities to live their lives to the fullest – something many of us take for granted. By organising all kinds of activities, from theatre trips and meals to day trips and even holidays, we aim to offer experiences that might otherwise be inaccessible to them. They can have fun knowing they're safe and with people who understand them."

Deanna started running a year ago and has been training for the half-marathon using a training app called Nike Running and has been running a mixture of speed runs, long runs and recovery runs five days a week. 

Taking part in the Great Bristol Run is a major milestone in preparing for a challenge she has set for herself in 2025. She plans to run and cycle from Bristol to Disneyland Paris to hopefully raise enough money to take some of the people the charity supports on holiday there during the charity's 20th anniversary in 2026.

She shared: "It's been tough. It's not been the easiest thing that I've done but then anything worth it is never really easy, is it? Some days I don't really want to go out for a run, except when I'm on my long runs I'm hurting a lot afterwards but haven't got much time to rest, so yeah I just need to get up and get it done. None of the aching injuries are bad enough to stop me from running, so as long as I can still get out there and run, it's a good thing.

"The race date is quickly approaching and I’ve been ramping up my efforts to ensure I’m as prepared as possible. While the physical challenge of a half-marathon is significant, I know it’s just the start of my training for my Bristol to Disneyland challenge next year.

"The thought of running in support of Young and Free Bristol gives me an extra boost of motivation. Young and Free is a very small charity and relies heavily on volunteers and donations to keep going."

We also had the opportunity to meet a member of the team running for Bristol charity Baby Bank Network ahead of the Great Bristol Run.

Stephanie is the HR trustee for the local charity Baby Bank Network, which provides pre-loved baby essentials for families experiencing poverty or crisis.

"Baby Bank provides support, a bit like a food bank, for babies and young children," she explained. "We receive referrals from our referral partners and we then provide equipment for things for mum, clothes, cots, prams, whatever the mum and the baby need to make sure that they're safe and warm. 

"And we have lots of volunteers that help out at our warehouse and we are reliant on donations from the public to keep our stocks high so that we can then provide some kind of bundles to the families that are in need."

Stephanie will be running the 10k as part of the Baby Bank Network team. When asked about the training she shared: "I haven't done any preparation yet. I've got a bit of a mountain to climb over the next few weeks. I think I'm fairly active but I haven't really started properly training yet. So I think that's going to be a bit painful once I start. I'll go from there."

To donate to Young and Free visit: https://ajbellgreatbristolrun2024.enthuse.com/pf/dea-runs-foryandf

You can find out more about Baby Bank Network here.

Feel inspired to take part in the Great Bristol Run on May 19? Entries are open here.