Jo Toner gets her skates on in Edinburgh to London rollerblading challenge for national children’s charity
Taking on an unbelievable challenge, charity champion Jo Toner is rollerblading across the country from Edinburgh to London in memory of one very special little boy.
Twenty something Jo Toner is known for having buckets of energy and enthusiasm but The Children’s Trust were amazed when she contacted them with her idea for the challenge of a lifetime.
Dusting down a pair of rollerblades which had been languishing at the back of a cupboard, Jo told the team she would be rollerblading all the way from Edinburgh to London, raising money for The Children’s Trust, a national charity which provides care, education and therapy to children with multiple disabilities and rehabilitation to children with brain injuries.
Leaving on the 31st August from the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Jo is rollerblading an incredible 450 miles across the country, arriving at her London finish in Trafalgar Square on the 8th September. Averaging 45 miles a day, her ‘long skate down’ will be a test of mental as well as physical endurance!
Jo, who was born and bred in Bo’ness, Edinburgh, and now lives in Camden, London, works as a fashion conference producer for Emap Ltd and is now four days into her gruelling challenge and is still skating hard.
Jo Toner said: “Being from Edinburgh and then moving down to London the route seemed pretty clear so I decided to skate north to south as, in my mind, this would be downhill and therefore easier… I couldn’t skate before I decided to do the challenge so I was pretty shocked to find that the mean streets of London were not polished and smooth! Regardless, I am training hard and gradually building up my stamina to ensure I’m as fit as possible for the start of the long skate down.”
Having previously worked for the Trust Jo has always been a dedicated supporter, but she decided to embark on the long skate down after hearing one of the children she worked with had sadly passed away.
Jo said: “What made me think ‘I really need to do this’ is when corporate fundraising manager Angie Turner got in touch to let me know that Justin had passed away. I had met Justin and his family on quite a few occasions when I was at the Trust and it was really upsetting news. This was when I decided that I needed to do something that was going to be really difficult, but that was also fun and unusual enough so people would get on board with the sponsorship to help make a real difference to the children the Trust works with.”
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