Community Champion winner 2016
Meet our first Community Champion Award winner – ultra-runner Alan Lawrenson.
Alan, 29, has gone the extra mile to raise funds and awareness for Hearing Dogs over the past few years – 812 miles in fact, including 100 miles whilst made temporarily ‘deaf’ and a further 159 miles across the Sahara Dessert.
Alan says:
“I’ve done a lot of runs for Hearing Dogs now. People have seen me do crazy runs across the Sahara Desert – 159 miles with an eight-kilo backpack. That wasn’t easy! I think people expected more of me after that, so I had to think about what would be really challenging, make people take notice and get me to my £10,000 fundraising target.
“I’ve never seen anyone do this before. People have run 100-mile runs for deaf charities but never whilst they’re deaf.
“I went 'deaf' by having gels inserted into my ears my Specsavers specialists – there were four people in the room but I instantly felt like I was there by myself. It was without a doubt my toughest race so far, because of my ‘deafness’.
“It’s certainly given me more of an understanding of what people with hearing loss go through. Lucky for me at the end of the race I was able to pull the gels out. So I’m just glad there’s a charity like Hearing Dogs to help people."
Alan's dedication to reaching his £10,000 goal has been outstanding, continuously adding run after run to gain more sponsorships. We were delighted when Alan hit £10k and could rename one of our adorable hearing dog puppies - nine week old Labrador Cadence.
Alan came to our training centre in Buckinghamshire to meet his renamed pup who has just left to go into her hearing dog training. He said:
"I'm so excited to see how Cadence progresses, I feel as if she is part of me and I have the same interest in seeing her grow as I do myself. I know she is destined for greatness.
The name 'Cadence' is definitely unique, to me it means moving forward at a fast pace, and I hope this is the case for Cadence. I want her to have the best possible life whilst supporting those that give her the love and attention that she deserves."
We're so thankful to Alan for all of his support and efforts. He truly is a worthy winner of our Community Champion Award 2016.
