Canine Partners

It’s not every day you get to dress up as your favourite Disney characters and run through the famous theme park collecting themed medals!

But Frances and her partner Cairon decided to take on the challenge and raise vital funds for Canine Partners in the process. Here’s Frances’ fundraising story in her own words.

I always wanted to raise funds for an animal charity as whenever I donate to a good cause, it tends to go to animal charities. I wanted to find one that I felt I could connect to, and so Canine Partners seemed an ideal choice.

I’m a huge dog lover and hearing about the amazing training the puppies go through to become that special partner to someone who truly needs that day to day support…I just had to do my bit as well!

I have been the biggest Disney fan since forever but had not heard of the RunDisney event till last year when my partner, Cairon had run it in America and he told me how great an event it was. It had not been something I would have even considered a few years ago as I couldn’t even run for the bus without feeling out of breath!

But I decided at the end of 2017 I would start to change a bad habit of a lifetime of no exercise to be healthy and start running. It has been a tough journey as I’m by no means a natural runner and so had to slowly build up from literally running around the block to run walk over longer distances. The 36k challenge was always going to be the one I was going to do as I have an all or nothing attitude!

To be honest, the thought of running around Disney behind the scenes where normally you wouldn’t go as a visitor was very appealing as a Disney fan and also you get such cool medals at the end as well!

The challenge didn’t seem all that daunting at first when I arrived as I was sort of prepared with my training – although had only run up to 10k as it had been a really hot summer which made it hard to train in the heat. I was also suffering from a troublesome knee injury which was making things tough.

On Friday evening, Cairon and I ran the 5k which was fun as it is just like doing a 5k park run around Disney! We were in the first of our three costumes that I had made, Cinderella and Prince Charming. Dressing up isn’t compulsory, but the majority of the runners do dress up as their favourite characters!

The 10K run was then upon us the next morning at 7am. We dressed up as Ariel and Sebastian from The Little Mermaid for this run, and as we made our way around the course we would stop for the character photo opportunities you can have done.

After the 10K, I had some physio done on my knee which helped, and I had it taped up to support it in readiness for the half marathon the next morning. It was a 7am start again. I knew I would be fine, even though this was the toughest one and I was so tired, aching and a little apprehensive as to whether I’d be able to complete the whole distance.

For the half marathon, we dressed as Dalmatians from 101 Dalmatians, and with a run/walk method, I got myself around the course!

As I was coming over the finish line, I was so glad it was over but also amazed that I had just completed a total of 36K over the course of the weekend. I had support from my partner Cairon the whole way round, with lots of encouragement…he was my rock!

I would suggest to anyone who is thinking of challenging themselves to do something however big or small, to think about what a difference your fundraising efforts make to Canine Partners and the people who directly benefit from it.

I know that I will continue to find other ways to raise money for Canine Partners as the support and well done I got from the team at Heyshott for completing my challenge shows me their appreciation is truly heartfelt.

Donate to Frances’ Virgin Money fundraising page here.

Would you like to take on a challenge to raise vital funds so that we can train more amazing dogs?

Whether you wish to take on an active challenge like Frances, host your own bake sale or another fundraising event, visit the Fundraising section of our website for inspiration! 

Fabulous fundraisers like Frances help us to transform the lives of people living with disabilities by matching them with an assistance dog to provide them with greater independence. Thank you, Frances!