Walk the Walk
Celebrating 20 Amazing Years!
In 1996, Nina Barough had a unique fundraising idea, which she turned into the hugely successful breast cancer charity, Walk the Walk. Now celebrating its 20th Anniversary, the charity has raised a spectacular £113 million through its iconic night-time MoonWalk events, and it is the largest grant-making breast cancer charity in the UK.
It started with a dream that Nina was Power Walking the New York Marathon in a bra to raise money for breast cancer. Nina had never fundraised before and had no connection to breast cancer. Turning her dream into reality, she persuaded a group of friends to take part in the New York Marathon in their bras, raising an incredible £25,000, which was granted to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
Just months later, Nina was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her friends wanted to support her and in April 1997, they entered the London Marathon, raising another £25,000. The next year, Nina and only half her friends received places, but undeterred, she created a one-off night-time Power Walking Marathon, ahead of the official London Marathon. Nina completed both and The MoonWalk was born … the first ever mass fundraising event for walkers.
From small beginnings, Walk the Walk has grown and grown. The MoonWalk London now attracts 17,000 women and men every year, wearing the charity’s trademark brightly decorated bras. On Saturday 13th May 2017, walkers will take on the 20th MoonWalk London, starting and finishing their overnight half or full marathons on Clapham Common.
There are now MoonWalks in Scotland and Iceland, and there is also a Walk the Walk Arctic Marathon in Lapland. Fundraising continues to flourish, with annual totals regularly topping £7 million,
Walk the Walk grants funds to help fund research into breast cancer and to help improve the lives of those with cancer now. £30 million has been granted to Breast Cancer Now (formerly Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer) for the long-running Generations Study into breast cancer, for the UK’s first ever breast cancer Tissue Bank and for the Legacy Study into secondary breast cancer.
Grants to Penny Brohn UK, Breast Cancer Haven, the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity, Maggie’s Centres, the Welsh charity Tenovus and The Christie Hospital in Manchester have all helped support those with cancer and their families. Funding from Walk the Walk for NHS Trusts and hospitals across the UK has allowed them to purchase Scalp Cooling equipment … special machines which help people undergoing chemotherapy to retain their hair.
20 years on from Nina’s dream, The MoonWalk’s decorated bras turn slightly less heads in the moonlit streets of London and Edinburgh but Nina and Walk the Walk’s work is far from done.
To sign up as a walker or a volunteer for The MoonWalk London 2017 or to find out more about this charity go to walkthewalk.org