Fifteen friends from a new Nottingham gym have joined forces to run a marathon together to raise £3,000 for Nottingham baby loss charity Forever Stars.
The Moai Strength & Wellness team took on the Manchester Marathon on Sunday 27 April in support of Forever Stars’ 2025 fundraising campaign Talking Through Tears, which has a £60,000 fundraising target that will be used to finance life-changing play therapy sessions for children dealing with the loss of a baby sibling.
As well as the gym’s owner and founder Rian Charles, the runners were Callum Boorman, Katie Fisher, Mitchell Higgins, Harrison Higgins, Fraser Higgins, Colby Hackett, Mandeep Landa, Chris Neilson, Alex Neilson, William Osa, Sheridan Thomas, Michael Walsh, Ryan Woodward and Antony York, all aged between 22 and 36.
The Manchester Marathon is the UK’s second largest marathon, and the fourth largest in Europe. The event was the first marathon for the majority of the team’s members, with just two having previously run the 26.2 mile distance. Whilst everyone completed the race, one runner Chris Neilson was hoping for a sub-three-hour finish time and he achieved this by finishing in an impressive 2hrs and 54mins.
Moai Strength & Wellness opened on Bennerley Road, Blenheim Industrial Estate, Nottingham, on 18 January this year. It specialises in group Kettlebell classes, Personal Training, Yoga, and offers expert coaching for all levels of fitness. It originally began life as a Personal Training business set-up by Rian in 2023, but with growing demand for PT sessions and his Kettlebell classes, transitioned to a dedicated gym and training space and a team of PTs and coaches.
“Forever Stars is an amazing charity,” says Rian, “and we love what it does, the support it provides families across Nottingham, the projects it has funded, and its whole team’s ethos and drive. When we heard about its 2025 fundraising campaign, we all wanted to do something to help, and as a group of people that love keeping fit and active, a marathon seemed the obvious fundraiser for us, as well as a huge milestone for the gym.”
“We are always blown-away when people take on challenges to fundraise for Forever Stars,” Richard says, “and we are so grateful to each of the fifteen runners from Maio. Their strength, dedication and compassion mean so much to our charity and the families we support, and everything they are doing to raise awareness of the heartbreak of baby loss that affects so many families every day.”
The ‘Talking Through Tears’ campaign aims to raise £60,000. With each play therapy session costing around £55, the average 15 sessions that children need means the total cost is around £800 per child, so the campaign fundraising target will finance support for 75 grieving children.
For information about the campaign visit the Forever Stars website: https://www.foreverstars.org/talking-through-the-tears/
To make a donation or fundraise, visit the campaign’s JustGiving page here, or email Forever Stars: [email protected].
Follow Moai Strength & Wellness on Instagram and donate via the team’s Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/moai-fundraising.
The fundraising total when writing this article was £2,059.