Runner Spotlight – Luke and Anwar
Over the next few weeks we will be sharing some of the stories of our amazing runners..
Luke Rickett, 19 and Anwar Karimi, 46, are running for fantastic local charity the Brighton Table Tennis Club
The Brighton Table Tennis Club is a Brighton charity founded in 2007 with the belief that table tennis can be used as a powerful tool to engage people of all ages and transform lives. The club runs over 200 tables across the city and has a full time centre in Kemptown. The club includes people with learning disabilities, people from traveller sites, Looked After Children, people with physical disabilities, the LGBT community and young asylum seekers. The youngest player is 2 and the oldest is 100!
In 2019 the club started to attend parkrun and loved it, with many of the club members running and volunteering. Anwar and Luke are now involved in helping to set up a new junior parkrun in Queen’s Park.
This year some of the BTTC are taking on the challenge of running the Brighton Half Marathon to raise money for the club.
Luke Rickett is a 19 year old who has been involved with BTTC for over 10 years. He recently won the ‘Care Leaver of the Year Award’ for Brighton & Hove. This video was made about his table tennis achievements and his recent award. He started coming to parkun 15 months ago and doesn’t miss a week, also volunteering most Sundays at the junior parkrun. The Brighton Half Marathon will be Luke’s first half marathon.
Anwar Karimi is a 46 year old Kurdish asylum seeker who has been in the UK for 15 months and has run 37 parkruns and volunteered 9 times at junior parkrun. He has recently been moved to London by the Home Office while he waits for his decision but has continued going to parkrun in Mile End. He misses his community and friends in Brighton and talks well about how running is great for connecting with people, places and helping improve mental health. The Brighton Half Marathon is Anwar’s first half marathon.
Fundraising: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/brighton-half-marathon-3
