A team from Met Consultancy Group will be taking part in the Leeds Half Marathon on Sunday 14th May, to raise funds for Brain Tumour Research and Support across Yorkshire (BTRS). The team of 16 runners is made up of engineers, land surveyors and geophysicists from across the company.
The idea for the event came from surveyor Karol Zep who, inspired by wanting to lose weight, get fit and get to know some of his colleagues a little better, started recruiting others to join him on the challenge of running the half marathon distance in Leeds, where Met Consultancy Group’s head office is based.
With runners from across the company’s three departments making up the team, it’ll be a battle to find out who’s the fittest. Asked whether there would be any inter-department rivalry, Dave Booker, Land and Measured Building Surveyor, said “I think the engineers want to win, but I’ve been training with some of the survey team, and their progress has been great to see; I’ll just be happy to see everyone get round!”
With race day looming, training for most of the runners is going well. The team are fitting in a ‘casual 8k’ lunchtime run, and still managing to walk around the office in the afternoon! Confidence is high, and there is already talk of further attempts at half marathons and even marathons in the future. But for now, the first challenge is crossing the finish line in Millennium Square in a little over two weeks time.
In true charity challenge style, for many of the team this will be the first time they’ve ever run a distance quite like 13.1 miles. Matt Young, Structural Engineer is hoping for a sub-2-hour time, “the furthest I’d ever run before this was a 10k when I was about 16! But, being an ex-footballer, I like the challenge of pushing myself to the limit, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to recapture some fitness. When the guys said they were running for charity as well I couldn’t really say no!”
The company has supported BTRS as their charity of choice for a number of years, and is one close to the heart of Director Neil Harvey, “I’m thrilled that the team decided to run the half marathon to raise money for BTRS. After my son, Sam, was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour in 2011 he started fundraising for the charities that had helped him. After he passed away we pledged to continue his efforts in raising money for these great causes, and it’s inspiring to see so many people in the company getting involved.” Met have previously taken on challenges including a mammoth cycle ride from Baildon, Bradford to the French Dordogne in 2014.
You can sponsor the half marathon team on the Just Giving fundraising page for Sam Harvey here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/samuel-harvey2
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