Sussex Students Tutu Run Helps Samaritans
Rugby players at the University of Sussex usually take part in the Brighton Half Marathon for the RFU Injured Players Foundation. However, with Covid causing cancellation of that event and an awareness of mental health challenges facing students and rugby players, they decided to reach for the green tutus and run along Brighton seafront in a 24/7 fundraiser.
The player in charge of the club’s charitable efforts, Fergus Hamilton-Jones, had a personal reason for supporting the Samaritans Emergency Appeal, which was addressing the biggest ever test for the charity due to the pandemic. However, the squad in general also has “very strong views” on supporting mental health awareness and support.
They had earlier taken part in a documentary on the subject, having been approached by a final year student at the University of Westminster making the film as part of her degree.
Said Club President, Giacomo Casali, who plays back row and was one of the 64 runners taking part: “We wanted to reflect the outstanding 24/7 service provided by the Samaritans and to add visibility by wearing green tutus in Samaritan colours, which is also the international colour of mental health. That meant people stopped on the Brighton seafront and asked what we were doing and then supported us on our Just Giving page.
“The target we set was £15,000 but we had raised over £23,000 at the last count. I managed to accumulate eight hours that week, which was over 85k but our overall champion was our hooker Tom Batt who completed over 148k during the week.”
Over the 168 hours which the club had players running, they covered 3,660k, which is just over the diameter of the moon. Within this distance, 24 half-marathons and one full marathon was completed.
Giacomo, who previously played for St Benedict’s School and Rosslyn Park FC, has one more year to go in his Marketing & Management degree. He says that when they were only allowed 50 at training, they were “maxed out” and, once allowed more, training sessions were at full capacity, despite the fact that the men were not playing matches.
“It’s looking very positive, everyone wants to get back on the pitch and the effort for the Samaritans was one that we all wanted to make,” he said.
Discover more or donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/team/sussexrugby
