David Grose: Cornwall's Little Harbour Childrens Hospice 100k Fundraiser
Words by Ruaidhri Marshall
With COVID-19 disrupting much of the charity work being done within the South West, four avid trail runners, David Grose, Gav Rowett, Luke Cracknell, and Steve Lee will venture out on a socially distanced 100 kilometre run with the mission of raising money for the Little Harbour Childrens Hospice in St Austell, Cornwall.
On the 8th of August at 7pm, the four will venture out to undertake the charitable run which covers a section of the much-loved South West Coastal Path.
Little harbour is one of three hospices in the South West, providing hospice care for children with life-limiting conditions and their whole family. Respite and short breaks, emergency care, palliative care and end of life care.
A run with such a wholehearted cause, we wish all four of the runners best of luck come august 8th. Below, is an interview with David Grose, I ask how his preparations are coming along.
Could you tell us about the the Little Harbour Children’s Hospice in St. Austell, and why fundraising is so vital during these hard times?
COVID-19 has had such a major impact on our country. It has resulted in multiple fundraising events being cancelled. This has had massive implications for such great institutions such as the Little Harbour Children’s Hospice in St. Austell. They rely on this income to continue to support both children with life-limiting conditions, and their families. I have personally visited Little Harbour and the care and compassion shown by its staff is nothing short of incredible and humbling.
David Grose
What preparations have you made for the 100km, enlighten us on your current training routine?
Each of us try to run three to four times a week. This, in turn, is broken down into one or two short easy runs of around 4-5 miles, a weekly St Austell Athletes Club run and a long run together ranging between 13 and 25 miles on the SWCP [South West Coastal Path]. As this challenge will also take place overnight, we have recently completed a 24 mile coastal path run between 9pm and 3am to get a little extra feel of the conditions that we will face. We also have a very generous crew who will be there throughout.
Have any of you undertaken a run of this magnitude before, what experience have the four of you previously obtained?
Gav Rowett it the most experienced of the four of us and the only one who has previously completed this distance, undertaking the London to Brighton Ultra. Gav also has nine marathons to his name and an additional five ultras inclusive of the Classic Quarter and ARC50. Luke Craknell has five marathons to his name and four ultras inclusive of the Classic Quarter and ARC50. Steven Lee also has five marathons to his name and two ultras inclusive of the Cousin Jack and ARC50. Myself, being the least experienced, have one marathon and two ultras inclusive of the Black RAT and ARC50.
Why the South West Coastal Path?
The four of us were signed up to compete in the RAT Plague organised by Mudcrew in August. This sadly has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hearing about the huge financial impact this virus has caused on such amazing, local charities, we decided to go ahead and see if we can help relieve some of the pressure. The SWCP is equally brutal and beautiful. This will not be an easy challenge, but one we are going to complete to support this outstanding institution through this dark time.
Find out more about the Childrens Hospice.