Our heroes this week are our fearless fundraisers running the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival this weekend! They’ve been training for months now and dedicating themselves to fundraising.
Thomas Zhong
Thomas has given himself the unique challenge of ‘putting the fun-racing in fundraising’. For every $500 Thomas receives in donations, he will be taking 5 minutes off his current time target for the run (1hr 55 mins). And then for every 1 minute that he misses his revised target, he will personally donate $10 to Shake It Up – what an amazing idea! For example: If I receive $3500 in donations, I will need to shave 35 minutes off my target time = Revised Target of 1 hr 20 min. If I run a time of 1 hr 50 min, I will then donate an additional $300 to Shake It Up Australia Foundation.
Elizabeth Keoshkerian
Elizabeth has an interesting personal as well as research-based connection to Parkinson’s that has inspired her to run her first full marathon. “This is a cause very close to my heart as my dad has been living with Parkinson’s for over 20 years now. At the end of my undergraduate degree I had the opportunity to do a summer scholarship with Professor Glenda Halliday, an internationally renowned leader in neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Halliday and Professor Jillian Kril were amongst the first scientists to inspire me on my lifelong journey in science. Shake it up Australia has helped fund some of Professor Halliday’s and many other great researchers work in the past and with our support will fund many more projects in the future.”
Adrian & Louise Lehane
Adrian and Louise have absolutely smashed their fundraising target with the support of friends, colleagues and business partners from their company, AOL Building Services. Wishing them all the best in their run this Sunday!
Neil Carter
Running the marathon for his Dad, Neil has been training hard. “My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and it was often frustrating and difficult path due to not that much being known about it. Looking to change that by running for Shake it Up so they can continue research and hopefully one day find a cure”
Luke Fowler
Luke thought that last year would be his last marathon but he is back again and we are so grateful that he is supporting Parkinson’s research.
Janet Watson
Janet is running for her Grandad, who is currently living with Parkinson’s. Janet said, “By donating to my page, you will help fund the much needed research to help find a cure so that one day families like mine won’t have to watch their loved ones suffer from Parkinson’s”.
There are lots of other amazing heroes fundraising and running in Blackmores Sydney Running Festival and we wish we could feature them all! Best of luck to all our heroes this weekend as they take on the challenge.
