7 words that are like a red rag to a bull. Not possible? Humans are infinitely capable and with the right guidance and team can achieve their greatest dreams.

‘I’m not confident you can do it’

I was in a meeting with a lot of the top organisations in London. We’d been talking about ‘Sport for Good’. How Sports can be used to tackle London’s growing homelessness and break down the gang culture that had London compared, no, exceeding New York for the danger in the city. I’d been invited as the founder of Project Awesome (a radically inclusive, super colourful FREE fitness movement in London, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Bristol) but we’d been speaking about a running relay I’d created in the United States after the Boston Marathon bombings.

On April 15th 2013, sitting in my kitchen with a pal I’d just run a scenic 10K with, we heard that two bombs had exploded on the finish line of the Boston Marathon killing 3 people and seriously injuring countless more. I looked at my friend in horror and right there we decided we had to do something about it. 7 weeks after hearing the news we set off from LA having organised a 3300 mile running relay from the West Coast of the US to the East. Finishing in Boston. We split the route into 10 mile segments and asked the running community to sign up to run one of the slots. We needed 300 runners and hoped to raise a few thousand pounds to help the lives that had been changed forever by the bombings. What happened next was unbelievable – rather than getting hundreds of runners signed up we got thousands and by the time we finished we raised $100,000 and running it again the next year we raised a further half a million dollars.

More than the cash raised we realised that a relay brings commnities together, creates a postive swathe of energy that transcends religion, nationalities and race. People were hugging, high fiving and having conversations that they wouldn’t normally have. And with that barriers were being broken down as fast as friendships were being forged. What better way to breakdown the barriers facing the youth of my home city.

The dignitaries in the room were listening. They liked the idea. ‘Can you do one of these in London?’ My answer was of course Yes. Let’s do it in July. They flipped open their diaries and turned to July 2019. Everyone seems to be free. No, I responded. If London needs this now, we need to do this now! July 2018.

‘But that’s only 3 months away’

A friend who helped with the US Relay said to me when we were planning that that if we worked 18 hour days then that double the time available. So really that’s 6 months. Within 2 months we’d got everything organised and the website ready. We’d split a world Record breaking relay distance into 653 stages. We now just needed the runners.

I kept the team small and agile but brought in the best people I knew. People who  Annie Ross, the most organised person I know. Jamie Hay, the man who thinks 18 hour days are normal. Terri Witherden on social. Rob Ellis on branding. Isobel Camier on PR. Tom Baker on film. Tanya Raab and David Altabev clicking pictures. They all worked around their day jobs and Annie quit to join full time with two weeks to go. I was also fortunate enough to accidentally meet some great people from ASICS. The footwear brand looking to get London and the rest of the world moving. We talked about building a tribe around community rather than speed and medals. Boom! These guys were perfect.

I know these events bring communities together but we also have the chance to make change with the charities we fundraise for. I scoured the internet and asked everyone I know for the best charities in London. The first on the list was The Running Charity. A charity that were new to me but fit this event so perfectly, and do such good for the youth of London that I’m regularly brought to tears in meetings when I talk about the people we are fundraising for. Alex Eagle is one of the most honest men you could meet. We sat for a coffee and within minutes his passion to help people was as clear as day. Alex and the team use running to help people who have found themselves on the streets. Their athletes have used running to overcome drug addiction, crime, gang involvement and of course homelessness. Their success stories are incredibly moving.

We also found Sported and Laureus who are working on a national and international scale as well as in London to help improve the lives of youths.

16 days into the relay and we’ve covered 2200miles and we’ve not dropped the baton yet! We have 1400 people signed up, all stages are covered and I’ve had one or two messages apologising for not believing this scale of event is possible in 3 months.

Out filming we met up with the recent graduates from the Running Charity program. Romario was introduced amongst others. He told me he was from Pluto, then laughed openly, authentically. I liked him immediately.

He’d not opened up about his story on film before so we didn’t hold out much hope that we’d capture his story. But for some reason this day he was feeling generous and talked eloquently to the camera. He talked about being in trouble with the police and how he’d felt as a homeless man in our city. He talked about how The Running Charity had entered his life and changed his said life forever.

You can get involved here or donate to help the youth of London here.

Danny Bent (@DannyBent)

Watch the video below on why The London Relay are supporting The Running Charity. Video by Tom Baker.