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Bristol students’ half marathon has already raised £17,000 for Ukraine

The team running the half marathon - article

The team running the half marathon

Press release issued: 4 March 2022

Bristol students will run a half marathon today (4 March) to raise money for Ukrainians caught up in the war.

Organiser Jake Nickerson, a University of Bristol Engineering student, said “we couldn’t just sit and do nothing when people are in dire need” as they look to run 13.1 miles along the canal from Trowbridge to Bath.

Amazingly, the nine childhood friends from Bradford-on-Avon have already raised £17,000 for British-Ukrainian Aid.

The team includes three University of Bristol students and Maksym Oberemok, a UWE Bristol student and Ukrainian national.

Maksym – Maks to his friends – moved to Bradford-on-Avon aged two and has spent every summer visiting family in Sumy, a city close to the borders of Russia and Belarus.

“All my family live in Ukraine so the last week has been awful,” Maks said. “On the first day when everything was escalating we had a phone call from my dad’s sister saying the ‘the war’s started’, there were sirens going off and missiles being launched.

“Since then we’ve been in constant contact with my family, but we are very worried. My family live too close to the border to get out of the country.”

Maks said the support for the run had been “overwhelming” and paid tribute to his “amazing mates”.

The team – none of whom are serious runners – will set off from Trowbridge at 1.30pm. Generous givers have donated up to £1,000 at a time and a local business, Creo Medical, is matching every donation.

Jake said: “I’ve known Max for years now and his family are all lovely. We really wanted to do something to help people like them who are really suffering in Ukraine.

“We aren’t the most athletic bunch - I play rugby but my cardio is awful – but we’ll get there one way or another.”

The team will carry a speaker pumping out music to keep them going as they traverse the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Jake is joined by fellow University of Bristol students Dan Mason-Rheinschmiedt (Engineering) and Alex Gulliford (Management with Innovation).

The others in the group are Maksym, Dan, Ross, Billy, Henry and Jack.

To donate visit their JustGiving page. Follow the team on Instagram: @runningforukraine2022.

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