Alexander O’Sullivan ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon in London in under two hours for EveryYouth. He shares why he chose to support us:
My name is Alexander and I’m 22 years old. I’m from Essex and I went to university in Durham. I studied biosciences, and having recently graduated earlier this year, I’m currently looking for work. My interests include music (I DJ on occasion), film, literature and recently, long-distance running!
I knew I wanted to support a relatively small charity for my first half marathon, the Royal Parks Half. I’ve always been struck by how quickly and easily someone could become homeless: losing their job, their close relationships, their home – all in a matter of days or weeks. The issue of homelessness is made more significant for me because I really value these things in my own life, and I deeply sympathise with anyone who has lost any one of them.
Also, the fact that EveryYouth works with young people experiencing homelessness immediately resonated with me.
I don’t personally have any connection to the issue of homelessness. While raising money for EveryYouth during my training, however, someone who kindly donated did mention that they know someone who’s homeless – and that my work for EveryYouth meant a lot to them.
I really enjoyed the Royal Parks Half! There was a great atmosphere in the events village. I took my training quite seriously, so I’m happy that I was able to complete my run in under 1hr 50!
I was quite nervous before my run – only because I’d been training for months and it all came down to the final two hours. I loved running through London. I felt like the location of the run – and the fact that my friends and family came to support me – made all the training worthwhile. I’m definitely going to take part in more runs in the future – possibly for EveryYouth.
Alex raised £600 for EveryYouth.
