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Mental Health Awareness Week: Raising money for MIND and the journey to the Ultra-Marathon

  • Publish Date: Posted almost 5 years ago
  • Author:by MERJE

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week and as one of MERJE’s employees is currently raising money for MIND, the mental health charity, we thought this would be a great opportunity to discuss his epic challenge!

Alex Kelly, a Senior Consultant on our Customer Contact team, is hoping to raise £1,500 and since September has already run 6 races:

  • 10k Night Run – Delamere Forest

  • 15k Trail Run – Coniston

  • Half Marathon – Kirkstall Abbey

  • 20 Mile – Pately Bridge

  • Marathon – Haworth

  • Marathon – Roche Abbey

His final challenge is an Ultra-Marathon – 52.4 Miles (Yes, a double Marathon) in one day! The Race To The Tower takes place in the Cotswolds on the 8th June and Alex is expecting the challenge to take around 12 hours, and if the distance wasn’t bad enough there is 7,476 feet of climbs along the way!

Alex wants to raise awareness of mental health issues and prove that anyone who has struggled with their mental health can still do whatever they set their mind too! To find out more about his sponsorship, check out his JustGiving Page here.

As an employer, MERJE believe it is extremely important to support their staff in looking after their mental health and since finding out that Alex has struggled in the past, have had open conversations around how best we can work together to ensure that he maintains a healthy lifestyle.

“It’s been amazing to be able to be open with both my colleagues and managers about my mental health journey and by talking about how my mental health has affected work in the past, have managed to put things in place to ensure that the impact on work is minimal if there are times I am struggling” – Alex Kelly

We all wish Alex this best of luck with his challenge!