Kids Operating Room offering coveted spaces for November’s New York Marathon
A Scots charity founder is taking on his biggest challenge yet, limbering up to run the New York Marathon and is looking for contenders to join him.
Garreth Wood, who along with his wife Nicola, set up Edinburgh-based Kids Operating Room, a charity which installs paediatric surgeries in low and middle-income countries around the world. Garreth aims to fundraise to provide more children with lifesaving surgery.
The charity has access to a number of spaces for the big apple run – which can arrange both flights and accommodation and hope that Scots will take up the coveted places for the event on 5th November.
Participants are being asked to fundraise a minimum of £1000 for Kids Operating Room to claim a space. The New York marathon is the biggest marathon in the world with just over 50,000 spaces available – but with twice as many applicants – so entries are highly sought after. Kids Operating Room is one of the few UK charities who are able to offer a space. The marathon is likely to sell out quickly so entrants are encouraged to apply ASAP.
Kids Operating Room’s founder Garreth Wood said:
“Kids Operating Room is my lifelong passion and I believe wholeheartedly in the work we do to save children’s lives. Although this is my debut marathon, I feel really motivated taking on this challenge and I will do whatever it takes to fundraise for thousands more children to receive successful surgery in KidsOR’s operating rooms.
“This is my first ever marathon and I can’t think of a better place to do it. I hope that some supportive Scots might be up for joining in and running past some of the world’s greatest landmarks, improving children’s lives with every mile”.
The New York Marathon’s course covers all five boroughs of New York, starting at Staten Island and through Brooklyn and into Queens before entering Manhattan. After a trip into the Bronx, runners head back down into Manhattan and enter Central Park, where they finish.
Kids Operating Room is the only global charity to focus on paediatric surgery and has created capacity for 100,000 lifesaving and life changing operations since 2018. The charity has installed over 60 operating rooms so far, to give every child access to the surgical care they need, when they need it.
Wood continues “We hope this is a golden opportunity for runners or would-be runners to fulfil a lifetime ambition and complete this bucket list challenge. I’m just starting my training and hope that by encouraging participants to sign up now, they will feel supported and motivated to prepare for this incredible event”.
If you would like a Kids Operating Room place for the New York Marathon please email Fundraising@KidsOR.org or visit www.KidsOR.org for more information.
