Joe Birch ran the Bushy Park 10K on the 10th of March. He sent us an email to let us know how he helped to save the world running (almost) as fast as a rhinoceros. You can still sponsor Joe on his DoNation page.

Tell us about the Bushy Park 10K! 

The Bushy Park 10k is a new race and it had a nice friendly informal feel to it, without being disorganised. The course was well marked out and manned/womanned at intervals with encouragement stations. I was also provided with free ibuprofen after the race, allowing me to walk whilst the drug remained effective.

And you managed to get hold of free tickets through The DoNation website?

The DoNation gave me a nice t-shirt to run in which was perfect for the weather. They also paid my race entry fee which I was expecting to have to pay myself.

Your training regime was pretty hardcore, we hear:

I did extensive training for the run: I went for two runs the week before, just enough to have no impact on my fitness whilst allowing me to develop a mild ankle injury.

How did your DoNation sponsors encourage you?

My sponsors collectively promised to save 2400kg of Co2 which is about the weight of your average rhinoceros! A rhinoceros can run 10k in about 25 minutes but I did it in 53, which is about right considering they have four legs and I have two.

And the outcome:

The event was chip timed and officially recognised allowing me to use my incredible time to enter any race of my choosing in the future. I believe the race was won by a rhinoceros, but the best human time was 33 minutes.

All said I had a lot of fun on Sunday and I hope the planet is very grateful for everything the DoNation is doing for it!

Editor’s Note: We don’t recommend running a race without proper training or with rhinoceroses. But it does go to show how fit the average human being naturally is! So no excuse not to get ‘On yer bike‘!

If you fancy running like Joe, see our Upcoming Events page for further free DoNation tickets. And if you missed Bushy Park, why not sign up for the nearby RunThrough Clapham Common 10K?