SUPPORTERS of Carlisle’s Race for Life are invited to enjoy a home-based challenge on the day the charity event should have taken place, to help raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK.
Moky’s Race for Life at Home challenge will feature a live 90-minute fitness class hosted online by Moky founder Shameem Arnold on Sunday July 12. The live stream can be accessed by anyone – not just Moky regulars – from 11am.
Shameem was prompted by Moky customer Cheryl Dobinson who was looking forward to the annual Race for Life at Bitts Park in Carlisle that day. The 5K, 10K and Pretty Muddy events raise millions of pounds nationally to help beat cancer but were cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Moky celebrates its 10th anniversary in November. It is popular throughout Cumbria and beyond because of its fun and effective routines to uplifting chart hits.
Shameem and Cheryl’s alternative fundraiser will boast routines from all of Moky’s different classes including the lower impact Zest, combat-style Blast and more challenging HIIT. There will also be favourites from the original MokyFit playlists and the new MokySculpt that uses dumbbells.
Shameem said: “Hundreds of Moky customers look forward to Race for Life in Carlisle. They form teams, dress up and enjoy coming together to raise money for a cause that has affected so many of us.
“Moky instructors have led the pre-event warm-ups for the last eight years and customers love joining in with routines that they have done many times in class. It’s a great atmosphere.
“It was such a good idea of Cheryl’s to host a Mokython at home instead. We have done many fundraising Mokythons in the past, and I have been running online classes during lockdown anyway. Why not do an extra-packed session on Race for Life day?”
Shameem, who lives in Seascale, has provided almost 100 free live online classes since lockdown began, alongside an on-demand subscription service. They have been a lifeline for Moky fans who have missed their weekly classes in community venues across Cumbria.
Anna Taylor, Cancer Research UK’s spokesperson for Cumbria, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Shameem and the Moky team for supporting Race for Life at Home and helping Cancer Research UK continue its life-saving work. At a time when it feels like everything is at a standstill, there is one thing that hasn’t stopped, cancer.
“Our priority as a charity is ensuring that people affected by cancer are getting the support they need right now. But we are also getting people asking about Race for Life at Home because they don’t want to see the charity lose out on vital funding. It’s truly humbling to see the response.”
Every hour five people are diagnosed with cancer in the North West of England. But the good news is more people are surviving the disease now than ever before. Cancer survival in the UK has doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress.
Thanks to the generosity of people across the North West, Race for Life participants last year raised over £2 million to support vital research to develop gentler and more effective treatments for cancer – a disease that will affect one-in-two people in the UK at some stage in their lives.
For more details about the challenge, search for Mokython Race for Life at Home on Facebook. To watch the Mokython – and to access free live classes – visit the website Shameem.fit and click on Live Class just before the start time.
For information about Race for Life at Home visit www.raceforlife.org
