Men run from Northampton to Wicksteed Park and raise hundreds of pounds

Three men who ran from Northampton to Wicksteed Park have raised almost £1,000 for Kettering's beloved attraction.

Ben Currington decided to support Wicksteed Park after hearing last week that the company which operates the park's leisure facilities had gone into administration and has raised £992.

He ran 15 miles from Northampton Racecourse to Wicksteed Park with his brother and a friend, Craig Lewis, who is a reporter at BBC Northampton.

Ben said: "Wicksteed Park is a big part of my life, most people in this area have been there at some point, I am sure.

"I take my children there now, they're nine and 10. Last year they took part in the soapbox derby and my eldest celebrated his birthday there."

Ben, who works for the Motor Neurone Disease Association in Northampton, said the other reason he decided to support Wicksteed in this way is because he is a regular Parkrun participant.

He said: "I did this run from my home Parkrun in Northampton to Kettering's Parkrun meeting at Wicksteed Park to show some support."

Parkrun is a free 5km run event that usually runs every weekend at sites across the country, including Wicksteed Park, but has been unable to run during lockdown.

Ben said community events like this is why spaces like Wicksteed Park are so important to the area. He said a comment on Facebook had made him realise how significant Wicksteed is to Kettering.

He said: "I saw a comment from someone and they said 'I'm almost as old as Wicksteed Park' and in brackets they said they were 96.

"I just thought that's incredible, there cannot be many people around that are older than Wicksteed.

"I really hope it's there for future generations."