On Sunday 4th June, 50 enthusiastic Zumba goers arrived at Chase Meadows Community Centre, Warwick to participate in our 2 hour Zumbathon to support Martin Saul raise funds for Myton Hopsice. Raffles prizes donated by local business and friends were won, along with homemade cakes and refreshments kept the motivation going to the end!
The grand total today raised £982.87
Great spirit. Amazing effort. Awesome fun. Just excellent. It was a huge success!!
Martin is trekking Mt Kilimanjaro (5895 meters above sea level) in September and he set himself a target to raise £5895 which is £1 per meter. Martin has certainly taken this fundraising challenge by the horns! I have seen his fitness levels improve during his circuit training sessions and attends my Zumba class at Chase Meadows…the only male in class!
Climbing Kilimanjaro is no easy trek and Martins’ commitment to this cause is truly commendable as well as working hard driving lorries day to day, fitting in training can be a strain which also include park runs, training runs and trekking up the miles, local radio talks, local paper articles and work fundraising and this will continue until the big day.
“So many lives are touched by cancer every year, my own included. My sister very sadly lost her Dad to a very aggressive type of cancer, in only a few weeks. It is shocking how quickly someone can be taken. We all hope and pray that it is not your family that have to enter the world of cancer with all the tests and sometime hard to deal with treatments. Thankfully many go on to live full lives, but it is reassuring to know that there are organisations such as Myton Hospice to offer help and reassurance to those who need it.
Kilimanjaro is 5895 meters above sea leave, my goal is to raise a pound per meter of the height of Kilimanjaro, we all know someone who has had their lives touched by cancer. Myton Hospice believe that everyone matters for every single moment of their life and that treating patients with dignity and respect, they passionately believe that the final part of someone’s life is as important as the beginning. They also know that making someone feel better is not just about medicine – sometimes holding someone’s hand or taking the time to listen to their fears makes the greatest difference. Myton Hospice have to raise over £8 million each year to continue providing their care.
After the Zumbathon with all the fantastic support from everyone who took part and everyone who helped organize and donate raffle prizes, and to The amazing Lisa from Paragon Health Fitness Warwick. I have great news, we have now passed my goal of a Pound per meter (5895) my total now stands at an unbelievable £6252.55!! I still have money pledged to collect and a few more events coming up soon, and about 16 weeks still to collect, I'm almost lost for words, so I will just say a very heart felt, Thank You” Martin Saul
The success of this event blew me away! To see so many of you turn up on a Sunday morning bleary eyed but raring to go was just amazing. To watch you all dance your backsides off, laughing, smiling, whooping and sweating. To witness gorgeous men that have never zumba’d before who arrived in costumes, wigs and psychedelic clothing, tough nut military men and Taekwondo members, was just unbelievable!
To say it was easy would be a lie. Yes it was tremendous fun but oh boy the last 20 minutes I had to dig deep. You all know that I instruct at the front of my classes with 110% intensity (which of course is my job) and to keep you all motivated and in high spirits I had to dig even deeper, to get us all to the end of the 2 hours with no break apart from 2 minutes half way. Towards the end, there was self talk going on, I had to keep going! Once we had stopped, we whooped so loud it was amazing. The emotions took hold of me and yes I shed a tear, Martin came over with a bunch of flowers and a hug. Once people had started to leave, I’m not the only one to have said they felt rather sick. We had pushed ourselves so hard both physically and mentally. It’s not just dancing! We went for it for a solid 2 hours.
From a personal note, I would like to say heartfelt THANKYOU for supporting me in this event, not as an instructor but as your friend. This was my first zumbathon, something that I have always wanted to organise and I did it! Another goal to cross of my list on my journey…..but that’s for another day!
To everyone that came to take part, helped out, support from the sides and cheering us on, thankyou.
You were all amazing! We did it!!!! 2 hrs!!!
If you would like to support Martin on his fundrasing journey and follow his progress here is the link to his Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/martinsaul?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fundraisingpage&utm_content=martinsaul&utm_campaign=pfp-share