Author runs the race for charity

  • Written by:

By Murcadha O Flaherty
A CARNEGIE-MEDAL nominated author has given more than £800 to two charities – after braving 40mph winds and heavy rain to complete an obstacle course.
Corinna Turner took part in the Manchester Rough Runner race – which involved descending a 130 foot waterslide – to raise money which was split between Aid to the Church in Need and the Good Counsel Network.
Presenting more than £400 to ACN, she said: “I’d like to give a great big thank you to all those who have sponsored me, they can be confident that beleaguered Christians in places like Nigeria will benefit directly from their kindness.”
The young writer ran as part of a team of six through an array of water hazards and managed trapeze zip-line obstacles with friends who worked together to reach the finishing line.
The six-mile (10km) distance race, which included 15 ‘Gladiators’ type hurdles, took Ms Turner more than two hours to complete.
Despite facing storm-force conditions during the event on last October, she said: “The run went well, despite being on the same day as Storm Brian – we were battling 40mph winds and horizontal rain.
“Since no member of my team made it across the first proper obstacle without falling in the water, you can imagine how frozen solid we were by the time we reached the finish.”
She added: “Having said that, I only ended up in the drink twice, but there was also a river crossing and what with the rain as well, we were wet the whole time.”
Ms Turner previously supported Aid to the Church in Need by donating all the proceeds from her novella Someday, which was published in 2016.
Someday imagined what the abduction of Nigeria’s Chibok Girls would have been like if it had occurred in the UK.
The 276 school girls – the majority of which were Christian – were seized by Islamist terror group Boko Haram in April 2014.
But 113 of these young women are still missing, with reports suggesting they may now be in neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger Republic.
Ms Turner said: “Persecuted Christians are always much in my thoughts, especially as I sit writing Tomorrow’s Dead, the sequel to Someday.”

Editor’s Notes

www.acnuk.org

Aid to the Church in Need is a Pontifical Foundation directly under the Holy See. As a Catholic charity, ACN supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in need through information, prayer, and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope St John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in 140 countries throughout the world.

Undertaking thousands of projects every year, the charity provides emergency support for people experiencing persecution, transport for clergy and lay Church workers, Child’s Bibles, media and evangelisation projects, churches, Mass stipends and other support for priests and nuns and training for seminarians.

Aid to the Church in Need UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1097984) and Scotland (SC040748). ACN’s UK office is in Sutton, Surrey and there is a Scottish office in Motherwell, near Glasgow and another office based in Lancaster that covers the North-West.

Please always acknowledge Aid to the Church in Need as the source when using our material.

For more information, contact Senior Press Officer Dr John Newton on 020 8661 5167 or ACN Press and Digital Media Officer Murcadha O Flaherty on 020 8661 5175.