Roland’s 2.6 Skipping Challenge
At the beginning of the month, Roland Anderson completed his 2.6 Challenge on behalf of Stoll, raising an incredible £1,189, which smashed his original target of £500 by 237%. Yesterday, he sat down with us to discuss how his challenge came to be and his motivations behind fundraising for Stoll.
The 2.6 Challenge rose as a replacement to the London Marathon which was to take place on Sunday 26th April, but due to lockdown was called off. As a result, the organisers were deeply concerned with the loss of funds for charities, with the race raising £66.4m in 2019. Therefore, they decided to introduce the 2.6 Challenge, ensuring that charities across the country would not lose out on vital funds during this time by making their fundraising accessible beyond just the country’s finest running enthusiasts.
Roland’s original challenge was to do 26 minutes of continuous skipping in one go. However, after a miscommunication with one of his colleagues who was supporting his challenge, his efforts got advertised has being done over ten days. However, he embraced the error, deciding that with the lockdown he would complete the full challenge and spoke of how was great for his mental health during these times of isolating. Roland, who works in the Finance Industry in Data and Analytics by day, actually got a quick start on the rest of the ‘marathon’ having started his challenge on the Thursday before, but finishing his challenge the Sunday after.
Roland has been a regular contributor to Stoll for several years, having taken a significant interest in issues surrounding homelessness in Veterans back in 2013. Speaking to why he chooses to support Stoll, he highlighted how he can see where his money is going into the services that we provide and wider issues of homelessness amongst the Veterans community. ‘Nobody deserves to be homeless, particularly those who have risked their lives in service of the country. I wanted to do something a bit more direct and with the 2.6 Challenge it felt like the right thing to do’.
Thank you to Roland for all of your efforts and for taking the time to sit down with us. Fundraising efforts like Roland’s allow us to continue to provide essential services to our Veterans, many of whom are needing daily support throughout the Covid-19 outbreak.
If you would like to support Roland’s efforts, please follow the link below to his JustGiving page:
Alternatively, If you are interested in doing your own fundraising for Stoll, please contact the Fundraising Team at fundraising@stoll.org.uk