January 2011
Star runner
Tim
Robinson, the Starbucks Store Manager of McArthur Glen in York is
undertaking a 6 day, 151 mile endurance race across the Sahara
Desert in Morocco in April in aid of The Prince’s Trust.
Tim tells us more about the challenge ahead…
Tell us a little about Marathon de
Sables. Why did you decide to run the marathon?
The Marathon de Sables is a 6 day, 151 mile
footrace across some of the harshest terrain on the planet. It was
dubbed by CNN “the hardest footrace on earth” which I think is why
it appealed to me as I love challenges. Competitors are completely
self sufficient for the race apart from carrying water and daytime
temperatures can exceed 45 degrees.
My dad was a long distance athlete and I always
remember growing up watching all these races on television and
dreaming of one day participating. Now it's only 4 months away and
it still seems unreal that I’m doing it.
Why are you supporting The Prince’s
Trust?
When it was announced that Starbucks had a
partnership with The Prince's Trust I decided it was something that
I’d like to get involved with. In 1999 my sister was really
struggling with direction. She'd left school at 16 at was living on
her own in a small bedsit. The Prince's Trust gave her the
opportunity to work with the National Youth Theatre painting
backdrops and sets. She loved it so much that with The Trust’s help
she returned to college and then went to university to study art.
She ended up with a 1st from Falmouth University and is
now a teacher. She never forgets the help she received from The
Trust and I’ve seen firsthand the difference that they can make to
someone’s life.
How much are you planning on raising for
The Trust?
So far I have raised about £2000. I would love to
go over £5000 but for that I will need all the support I can get.
Within my district I have had massive support and am amazed by some
of the things which the partner have been up to. Coney Street Store
had an 80's day with an awesome rubix cube challenge and The
Coppergate Store had a store 10th birthday party and
raised over £200.
We've had partners who ran the Great Manchester
Run and Great North Run, some of which had never ran a race before
in their lives and from speaking to them the next day never will
again!
What do other Partners and your customers
think of the challenge you are taking on?
I'm really bad at publicising what I’m doing and
am slightly uncomfortable being in the spotlight. It started out as
a personal dream and ambition but I am now realising that partners
and customers want to be part of the journey as well. They've been
so supportive. I've had one customer who has put me in contact with
one of their relatives who has ran the race and had another
customer supply me with food packs and supplies for the event.
How can people get involved and support
you?
Support or advice in any form would be greatly
appreciated. People can log onto www.justgiving.com/Starbucks-NE
and donate this way, all donations no matter how small would be
massively appreciated. So far all the t-shirts I’ll be wearing are
blank and I would love some sort of designs for these. I'm also
going to be flying a flag from my bag during the event and would
love a design idea for that.