Fancy a Challenge?

You might have noticed that we’ve donned our running shoes of late; well it’s all been in the name of something called Challenge Charlie.

Challenge Charlie has been set up by Sam Hutton (the name’s no coincidence - he’s Gill and Simon’s lad) in honour of his younger brother Charlie who tragically died in a boating accident in 2012. Sam is challenging himself to run every day for 97 days, and he’s asking others to join him and get fit, as well as raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI).

Challenge Charlie started on the 16th June (Gill’s birthday) and will be continuing until 20th September – Charlie’s birthday. The run is mainly London based, from laps of Battersea Park to tourist dodging along the Thames, however Sam encourages anyone to carve out their own course and challenge themselves in Charlie’s memory.

Sam says: “We wanted to create something that everyone can take part in and to inspire others to take up the challenge by running and getting fit. Charlie stood for sport, he stood for health and he stood for fitness.

“Ever the competitive little brother and being a cheeky teenager, if Charlie was running with us, he would have sprinted past us shouting "Speed up bro's, call this running?!” So, what better way to honour his memory than to push ourselves through various sport and fitness challenges.”

The schedule has been carefully constructed by Sam based on Charlie’s life. Born in 1997 the entire distance adds up to 772km, which equates to 1km for every week Charlie lived his life. Equally, 97 days equates to 14 weeks, and each week starts with a 2km run on the Monday and culminates on Sunday with 14km. That's1 km for each of the 14 years he lived.

Sam and Tom (Charlie’s other big brother) have been working hard showing their appreciation for the RNLI – an extraordinary charity run by ordinary people – for their efforts on that tragic day. The dynamic duo started with the BUPA Great South Run in October 2012 and the challenges have grown from there, with the London Marathon, a half Ironman and swimming the 14km from Henley to Marlow to name a few! Collectively Team Hutton has raised almost £20,000 and with no signs of stopping, their good work will only continue.

So Sam, Team Hutton and TTP challenge you to Challenge Charlie, dust off those running shoes, buy the t-shirt and get out there! You’re more than welcome to join us on one of our runs, just drop Katie an email and she can give you all the details. And don’t worry; you can see the grass grow when we run (to quote Sam!).