Warriors made a special appearance at the Acorns Children’s Hospice’s Triple Run 2007 – and even unearthed some future rugby talent!
First team stars Tony Windo, Shane Drahm and Marcel Garvey all made an appearance at the hugely successful event at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern where more than 1,500 runners took part.
There were three different races for runners to choose from; the multi-terrain 5km Spring Run – a fun-run or walk next to the Malvern Hills; a half-marathon for more serious runners; and a special 1.1km Chicken Run for people with special needs.
Warriors were delighted to make an appearance for a charity close to the player’s hearts and entertained spectators with rugby demonstrations and kicking, running and passing challenges.
Prop Tony Windo and winger Marcel Garvey talked youngsters through evasion and helped run tag rugby games with community rugby coach Steve Joslin.
And the Shane Drahm kicking challenge proved a big hit with Hugo Lennard, nine, and Matthew Carter, 10, winning their age groups and with it signed balls from the Warriors star fly half. Both youngsters were later invited to Sixways for a guided tour of the club and to collect their signed Drahm balls.
“The players and community rugby coach Steve Joslin thoroughly enjoyed the day, mingling with runners and helping out where we could,” said Warriors Marketing and Events Executive Chris Townend, who organised the club’s presence at the event.
“It was fantastic to give something to help out one of our chosen charities and on behalf of the club we would like to congratulate everyone who took part in the event to raise valuable funds.”
Acorns in Worcester was officially opened in May 2007 by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester as a state-of-the-art 10-bed specialist care facility for life-limited children living in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and parts of Warwickshire. It desperately needs more funds to reach more families who could be benefiting from Acorns specialist paediatric care.
This year’s event was the second Acorns Triple Run, the first, last year, raising nearly £50,000 for good causes.
Spokesman Melanie Hinds said: “The event was absolutely brilliant. We had about 1,500 runners in total and fortunately for most of the day it was warm and sunny. We had an excellent turnout of visitors. For the runs there were people dressed as chickens and acorns and it was just a great atmosphere.”
