Fancy a bit of a run? Now’s the time to sign up to Shelter’s Urban Rush.
For some, January is the time for a bit of self-improvement and burning off the excesses of Christmas. But personally, September is a far balmier time to get some exercise, while the daytime drinking and al-fresco chainsmoking of August requires some sort of remedy.
So, here to focus the mind and discipline the body: housing charity Shelter, and their 15-mile Urban Rush through London. A bit longer than a half-marathon, mercifully shorter than a full marathon, this annual event takes participants across the city from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to Putney.
Taking place on October 1st, runners set off from the start point in Hackney, wending their way past Victoria Park, through Shoreditch and the City, and down to St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Then it’s over the Millennium Bridge and onto the second half of the course, following the Thames west along the South Bank, before crossing the river and pounding along the west London riverside.
There’s a £39 registration fee and Shelter ask you to raise £229 in sponsorship. (As a charity on the front lines of London’s housing crisis, they’re a cause worth supporting.) Anyway, you’ve got forty days to drag your sorry ass through London and get those lungs working again. See you at start line!