Richard Beniston

Richard is an expectant father with his wife Anna due to give birth almost on the day of the adidas Auckland Marathon. He's raised $700 in the last month for ChildFund.

It would be a big stretch to call myself a runner as I've only completed a few 10k races before. I wanted to enter the half marathon to get in better shape to prepare myself for the rigours of impending fatherhood. However, Anna put her foot down as she was concerned I wouldn’t have the energy left to help out if our baby decides race day is the day and beats me to the finish line. Hence I'm only doing the quarter marathon. At least that’s my excuse!

My interest in ChildFund New Zealand started when I hosted a radio show on 95bFM called The Wire. I interviewed ChildFund New Zealand aid worker Maureen Duffy who worked with Darfur refugees in Chad. Talking to her inspired me earlier this year to donate to ChildFund - so when I received an email about the Challenge I thought it was a great idea.

Given that I signed up a month ago, my fundraising has gone really well. A couple of emails netted several hundred dollars which surprised me. The trick is to get a lot of people to each give a little – most people wouldn't miss a few dollars, but it means a lot to children in need.

< Back to Challenge Stories