London 10K: 427 runners pay for a CALM helpline seat for a full year

London 10K: 427 runners pay for a CALM helpline seat for a full year

7th August 2019

Wow. The ASICS London 10K 2019 was something very special, with an unprecedented amount of CALM runners demonstrating the power of our ever-growing running collective.

Our stated aim was an event takeover, with 250 CALM runners sending an unmissable neon-orange message on the benefits of running, community and collective action.

To our pride and delight, on the day we had 427 people donning the CALM vest alongside friends old and new, all lacing up for movement against suicide. And we collectively raised a whopping £75,000 (and counting) – more than enough to pay for a seat on our helpline for a year.

It was a life-affirming day. Full of emotion, adrenaline, tears and cheers. There were so many highlights, here’s just a few …

The goosebump inducing meetup 8am before the race

#TeamCALM tattoos

Potentially obnoxious amounts of confetti

The protest against living miserably (CALM cheer point)

400 high fives

Our handsome hype runners, CALM coaches Ben and Ollie

Medal smugness

Hundreds of hugs

In 2019 we’re averaging two suicides prevented every day on our helpline. 65 lives were saved in January 2019 alone. A big part of this achievement is down to those who #RunCALM. Roughly 40p out of every pound raised to fund our life-saving helpline comes from people taking on challenge events. So thank you so much to all of our runners, the crew preventing suicides every day.

Join the crew

Our ever-growing CALM Runners Collective is the perfect demonstration of the powerful link between exercise, community and wellbeing. In the last two years, the crew has grown to 700 members – combining a Facebook group with meet-ups and workshops where runners of all abilities can share training tips, failures and successes and support each other through the ups and downs. Whether you’re a seasoned runner or a complete novice – get involved.

Photos by Hannah Goodwin and Hassan Joof.

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