Help Fund a Child Outdoors

I am running the Adamello 100k in the Italian Alps on September 25 to raise funds for Plas y Brenin's Mountain Adventure Fund.

I am the product of many moments that helped me feel comfortable in the outdoors. Because of this, I gained the confidence over the past 5 years to become a trail runner and run a race like this. I am very aware of how privileged my position is to have had such a journey.

Many children in the UK, where I have made my home, do not have this same opportunity. Study after study shows that:

1. Children are spending less time in nature, and less doing hard things in nature. Natural England tracked the share of children getting outdoors monthly falling from 81% to 74% in five years, with those going out independently, without adults, dropping from 22% to 17% (and that is before Covid hit). 
2. Doing those things is exceptionally important and has many benefits. One of the most cited studies of adventure education found the effects on young people continue to grow after the programme ends. 
3. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and minority groups are much less likely to get there. Natural England found children in the most deprived areas are 20% less likely to spend time outside than those in affluent ones, and that 70% of white children get outside weekly against 56% of black, Asian and minority ethnic children. 
4. Alongside cost and transport, the barrier providers cite most often is simply not knowing. In research for DEFRA, 85.5% said fear of the unknown was a significant obstacle. Not knowing where to go, what to bring, or whether you'd belong there.

The Mountain Adventure Fund pays for school groups to come on experience weeks at the world famous Plas y Brenin outdoor mountain centre. Based on my experience attending a volunteer weekend there in May, their entire ethos is to help young people discover the outdoors in their own way and leave with a positive impression that will stick with them long after they leave. They fund 75% of the course plus the full cost of travel, and the children arrive by train with their teachers, which for many is the first time they've made a journey like that without their families. On the residential there are three children to every adult, and MAF also funds local climbing and kayaking sessions near the schools once the week is over.

Through raising money for MAF and writing these posts, I also plan to learn and share a thing or two about the problem of outdoor access, what works, and how MAF and individual actions are part of the solution.

I will personally be very grateful whatever you are able to give to this cause, as I'm sure will those at MAF and the individual beneficiaries of the fund. I would also love to hear your ideas and comments along the way. Thanks & happy trails!