The Great Starfish Trail 2024

20km for a Child's Education

In many places around the world, distance to a school can prove a critical factor in whether a child receives a full education or not. This is also the situation in Pakistan. On average, children in rural Punjab travel 2-3kms per day to attend school, often through undesirable surroundings (ASER report 2021). Over the course of a week that equates to 20km. For longer distances they would need to take expensive private transport. This is why it’s so vital to support local schools within easy reach of children’s homes.

For this year’s Great Starfish Trail, we’re inviting you to cover 20KM for a child’s education. Could you commit to doing a sponsored walk/run/cycle/swim to raise much-needed funds? We are all aware of the cost-of-living crisis here, but in Pakistan this is an even bigger issue. Funds raised through The Great Starfish Trail 2024 would be used to tackle the effects of this crisis by enabling us to increase teacher salaries (the majority still earn less than £2 a day) and to provide investment into school infrastructure like water coolers, fans and furniture. Our target for this combined venture is £30,000.

Could you go the extra mile? Between 14^th and 29^th September, we’re asking people to pledge to cover at least 20km. This could be in one go, as part of an organised event, or a combination of smaller distances over the fortnight. Of course, you can choose to cover a greater or shorter distance too - whatever you can commit to will be a great blessing. If you are interested in joining us, or would like more information, please contact liz@starfishasia.com 

Don't fancy taking part alone? Come and join us at the following events!

1. The Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge - Sunday 14th September

    Join Rob as he embarks on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, which takes on the peaks of Pen-y-Ghent (694 metres), Whernside (736 metres) and Ingleborough (723 metres), usually in this order, and in under 12 hours. The route covers a distance of around 45Km. 
https://www.threepeakschallenge.uk/yorkshire-three-peaks-challenge/  

2. Tonbridge 5k, 10k and Half Marathon - Sunday 29th September

   Join Rob and Liz as they set out to run half marathon. You can choose your distance and sign up here: 

https://www.letsdothis.com/gb/e/run-kent-tonbridge-half-marathon-10k-and-5k-194072 

Check here for updates and visit our fundraisers' individual profiles to see what challenges they will be completing.