9 October 2019 | Lock Ness, Scotland [Tor Tjeransen]
The head of the Adventist Church in Norway, Victor Marley, has raised over NOK 55,000 (approximately 5,500 Euros) for ADRA’s work while running a tough marathon alongside Scotland’s famous Loch Ness. He claims to be very pleased with both the donations and the race.
“I am very happy with the time, because my goal was to run in under four and a half hours,” Marley stated after the run on Sunday, 6 October. It was his very first marathon and he finished in 4:12:48.
For Marley it was more than physical effort, it was also mentally demanding. “You really want to stop and walk for a while, but it wouldn’t have worked for me,” he explained. However, he received strong support from family, who cheered him on at selected posts along the route.
Marley has been running for many years, but never previously attempted the more-than-42 kilometres of a modern marathon. However, he was inspired by the opportunity to combine his desire to reach a personal goal with the aim to collect money for some of the world’s poorest children.
Using a Facebook campaign, Marley raised money for ADRA’s education programme for children and young people. He then raced wearing ADRA campaign t-shirt ‘Every child. Everywhere. In school.’
Just two days after the marathon, Marley collected just over NOK 55,000.
“This is absolutely amazing,” exclaimed ADRA Norway’s Secretary General, Birgit Philipsen. “This sum will provide education to many of the most vulnerable children in the world,” she said while endorsing the very positive example set by the union president.
One of the beneficiaries will be Niger. The country is at the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI). The birth rate is the highest in the world, and children have an average of just five years at school. Many girls are forced into marriage long before the age of 15. The work ADRA is doing to help young girls go to school is important for their futures.
Marley says a marathon in many ways is an illustration of much of what we do in life.
“With adequate preparation and persistent practice, you may reach far, taking one step at a time towards the goal. That’s how I think about leadership, parenting, marriage, personal goals and challenges, education, and the Christian life. It is not without reason that Paul encourages us to train ourselves to be godly and press on to win the prize God has called us to, says Marley with reference to 1 Tim 4:7 and Phil 3:14.
The marathon at Loch Ness is a point-to-point race. The start is in the Highlands north of Fort Augustus and follows Lake Loch Ness on the south-eastern side of the lake. The Loch Ness Marathon is considered one of the world’s most attractive marathon events and was ranked among the world’s top 10 marathons by readers of Runner’s World magazine in 2016.
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojković, associate editor
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