With the excitement of the village 10k brewing last week, schoolchildren at Hemington Primary School were able to share a very special day with one local runner last Thursday, as part of a series of talks he has been giving to local schools on the importance of staying fit and healthy.
Having heard of his story and designing their own race numbers that morning, the children were joined by Kilmersdon’s Jim Plunkett-Cole, who many will know locally for his daily 10k and triathlon challenges which have raised thousands for local charities.
Taking inspiration from the film, Forrest Gump, whilst planning his next challenge to run across America as the character did, Jim is in the process of meticulously mapping and approaching sponsors to help him in this feat, which will potentially see him running up to a marathon a day – for over three years. Providing he can get the visas he needs, he aims to leave on October 1st this year.
Jim has been taking his story to local schools in an attempt to inspire children about the importance of staying active and making the most of the great outdoors. Last Thursday marked his ‘Forrest Gump Day’, as it was exactly three years, two months and fifteen days, the same time as the character ran for, of him running 10k a day. Whilst in America, Jim hopes to spread the message to elementary schools in a bid to help combat obesity in children. He has already approached the people behind Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerburg, for support whilst he is there and hopes to link up with chef, Jamie Oliver, who often speaks in American schools about the importance of healthy eating.
Whilst at Hemington Primary School last week, Jim explained to the children that he had added up all of the miles he has run in the past three years – all 8,600 of them, which means he has run over one third of the circumference of the globe and has just made it to Australia in terms of distance, without a single day of rest. He showed the children photographs of the things he had seen in nature whilst running and the experiences he had had by running with others – things that he wouldn’t have seen, he says, if he had been sat on the sofa. The children also looked at the various places Jim could be visiting on his run through America, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Niagara Falls, Washington, Yellowstone National Park, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
It is incredible to see how this three year journey has changed one man – and the ripple effect that this is having for people around him and the young people he is inspiring. After the talk, the children followed Jim outside, where they took part in some running laps, with great excitement and enthusiasm!