Last Saturday, 9th May, over 3,000 Foreign Office staff worldwide on Saturday and participated in the Diplomile run to raise over £40,000 for NHS charities & UNICEF to fight COVID19. In addition to raising money, the global marathon aimed to virtually unite and raise the spirits of colleagues and family members Iin a shared endeavour as they joined in the run from over 100 countries.
We are proud of one of our Leighton Park families, currently evacuated back to the UK, enthusiastically got involved with the effort to run a marathon in each country, with a member of the Diplomatic Service running for every minute of a 24-hour period.
“When I heard they are looking for participants, I thought this could be a real fun and rewarding event for my family.” said Heewon, mother of Sol (Year 10) and Keanu (Year 8). “It was so much fun running for a cause as a family. Sol does not like running but she joined gladly! And the children did artwork and made a donation which was more than just a run. We saw videos and photos of people running all over the world and felt we were a part of a really cool thing. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office acts to support supply of important Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and equipment from other countries, and my husband has been on crisis team trying to find/buy/ship essential medical supplies from China.”
The idea for the global marathon was sparked by the British Embassy in Kabul and the Diplomatic Service Families Association who had previously launched a pair of virtual marathons. Colleagues and families ran a single mile (socially distant!) to contribute to a 26-mile total for those in their group. Some walked, some jogged, some ran. This event was so popular that is launched the idea of extending it to the whole Foreign and Commonwealth Office network.
During the race participants took photos or videos of themselves to share on social media and the virtual baton was passed around the world via text message. Overall it involved 159 posts and one military outpost across 22 time zones and each of the inhabited continents. Commenting on their achievement, Jez Belas, Director of Sport, said, “Amazing! Well done Sol and Keanu!”
Keanu volunteered to be a photographer for the event and asked his family to jump for the photo. He is not in the photo for this reason.
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