TCS World 10k in India and a Coast to Coast Walk across England

The TCS World 10k event was a huge success. Ten participated in the run for Baale and so thank you to them and to all who sponsored them to take part. They have raised Rs.1,93,810/- for Baale Mane so far. If you haven’t sponsored yet it is not too late, visit Vicky’s page or Suchindra’s page to donate from the UK OR to donate from India click here.

Below is a short review from Vicky, our Assistant Manager with some photos of the day taken by Viktor Baskin Coffey http://www.theloop.com.au/Viktoria/resume:

The atmosphere in the stadium before the run was incredible especially as we were able to watch the professional athletes start their 10k race and come back only 27 minutes later! Our race was slightly more informal with 9,000 of us running together with dancing cheerleaders and Hindi tunes to keep us going along the way. Nandini, Chaithra and Pallavi, three of our older girls came down to support on the day and meet some of the runners. After the run we all headed to Airlines Hotel to reverse our good work with generous helpings of ice cream!

From Coast to Coast by Neil Stevenson

One day in 2009 I visited Baale Mane as part of a visit to Bangalore with an organisation called Leaders’ Quest. It was a day that transformed my attitude towards life, no longer taking for granted what we consider to be the basics of modern western living, such as clean running water, three meals a day, a roof over our heads, or indeed the safe upbringing and education that our children get … It was truly inspirational to meet the girls living at Baale Mane, to hear the stories of their lives, and more than anything to see how they, their spirits, had triumphed over adversity and hardships I will never experience in my life. I knew then that I wanted to help them in any way I could.In April this year I fulfilled a long term personal ambition to walk Alfred Wainwright’s classic Coast To Coast walk across northern England. Wainwright is most famous for writing beautifully illustrated walking guides to The Lake District, but in his retirement he devised the Coast To Coast walk, which begins in St. Bees on the Cumbrian (Irish Sea) coast, and ends 206 miles and 14 days later at Robin Hoods’ Bay in North Yorkshire (North Sea). The walk takes in three of Britain’s National Parks; The Lake District, The Yorkshire Dales, and The Yorkshire Moors. The day before setting off I learned another fact about the walk, that the hills and mountains along the way totalled over 29,000 feet of ascent and descent, equivalent to climbing Everest and down again.

A week before setting off a friend of mine suggested that I take a look at a website called Just Giving and within ten minutes I had set up a donation page for Baale Mane. I asked my friends on Facebook to donate and spread the word, and I am utterly delighted with the result, as it has helped to raise £775 for Baale Mane.

The reality of walking over 200 miles of hilly terrain was quite an eye-opener, especially as it ended up being the wettest April since records began! But the sheer beauty and remoteness of northern England’s’ open landscapes was just wonderful to walk through. I would recommend to anyone reading this, if you are planning to do anything special or different in your life, put it to good use … it was so easy to create a “Just Giving” page, and just by plugging it on Facebook and amongst local friends back at home in Somerset, it raised useful funds for Baale Mane.

Coast To Coast was my first long hike, but I loved it and already I’m planning the next one, to walk Offa’s Dyke which roughly follows the England / Wales border. I’ll also be setting up another “Just Giving” page and putting my love of walking to good use.