101 Dalmatians For Couple’s 101st Half Marathon

A couple from Leeds will be channelling their love for Disney into the Simplyhealth Great North Run this September.

Adam Bull, 49, and his wife, Carol, 48, will be running the half marathon dressed as the characters from 101 Dalmations raise money for Asthma UK.

They are also celebrating their astonishing achievement of 101 half marathons since they discovered their love for running ten years ago.

Adam said: “Our running careers pretty much started when we began attending parkrun events on Saturday mornings at Woodhouse Moor in Leeds.

“However, it wasn’t until Carol suggested that we try and complete a marathon before the age of 40 that we really cranked our running efforts up a notch.

“We were married in Walt Disney World Florida in 2000 and are big Disney fans in general, so we decided to enter the 2008 “Goofy Challenge”, consisting of the Donald Duck Half Marathon followed the next day by the Mickey Mouse Marathon.

“Our first marathon was in September 2007, as a practice for the big Disney event.

“When we completed the Goofy Challenge, we wanted to keep going!”

He added: “It occurred to us that our 101st Half Marathon would be a perfect time to go ‘all Disney’ and become characters from 101 Dalmatians; we have already got our engraved dog tags ready.”

Adam and Carol have taken on half marathons in fancy dress before, always a team.

Adam said: “We’ve also run as Pumpkins at Halloween, Pirates on International Talk Like A Pirate Day, Santa Clause at Christmas and many others.

“We are not all that fast, but what we lack in speed we make up for in determination and enthusiasm.

“The main thing is that we always both take part in every race; if one of us is unable to run, then neither of us does.”

Adam and Carol will be running as part of the ‘Mile Buy Club’, a fundraising challenge set up by Tim Platton in York.

Tim said: “I thought I’d be the guinea pig for the concept and started selling miles in January with the commitment to run a mile for every £2 I raise.

“I’ve raised over £2000 which equates to me trying to run 1000 miles.

“I’m running the Great North Run for the first time in September so, if all goes to plan between now and then, I should be running my 650th mile of the year in the event.”

The Simplyhealth Great North Run takes place on Sunday 10 September, which will see thousands of runners like Adam, Carol and Tim taking on the famous 13.1 miles.

Tim added: “The goal is to encourage people to start running or run a little bit more whilst raising money for good causes.

“I think this is a great concept and it’s really caught the imagination of the people who are determined to make me run further and further.

“The Simplyhealth Great North Run will be our first group event as there are nine members of the Mile Buy Club who have entered and are selling each mile they run for £10, with all the money going to Asthma UK.”

Adam said: “In the spirit of The Mile Buy Club, we will be hoping to ‘sell’ our joint 26.2 miles to sponsors for £10 per mile in order to raise at least £262 for Asthma UK.”