Chichester gym staff celebrate after 17 mile Christmas run for charity

After one of the original four runners dropped out due to injury, three Gym Group Chichester staff ran from the Portsmouth branch to the Chichester branch today (December 22). Setting off early this morning, they steamed into the Portfield Way facility at 11.50am red-faced with the cold and breathing heavily after a hard run.

"The joints are hurting a bit, but I think we’re all good,” grinned branch manager Chris Hall. “I think we probably hit the wall at Bosham – about 15 kilometres in. The joints started to ache a little bit, but the weather was nice and we had the wind at our backs, which really helped.”

All three runners were keen to shout out 13-year-old Henry, who joined them for ten kilometres of the challenging miles-long run. “He definitely deserves a mention,” said Chris. “He did really well.”

The big run was all in aid of NHS Charities Together, which donates to good causes across the healthcare space, making sure the NHS can provide the best quality service to as many people as possible. Although the Just Giving page for the run remains open, each runner seemed happy with the more than £250 they had raised.

"It’s great to have raised the money. They’re the whole reason we did it. Just to get some money in and help a great cause. They have done so much good for this country since they were founded, but particularly over the last three years, so this was important to us.”