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Location:London UK
What a night to remember!
This years theme at the Playtex MoonWalk London, was Strictly Walking and oh boy or rather girl did the walkers go to town on that one!
With a cast of thousands, Paul O Grady, The BBC Big Band, Tina May, Richard Shelton and Blake all brought the Pink Tent to life....this years MoonWalk was a Spectacular Spectacular!!
12th Year!
It was the 12th time that Walk the Walk has brought The MoonWalk to London and like a fine wine it just gets better with age! The week leading up to the event was fine and dry, which made putting Playtex City together a lot easier. It takes us over a week to put the huge structures together and before too long the familiar sight of the Pink Tent appeared in Hyde Park! The size of two football pitches end on end, you just can't miss it!
It begins!
On a fine dry evening we opened the gates and 15,000 wonderful walkers streamed in. Feathers, glitter, sparkles, beads and all manner of colourful decorations adorned bras. This years theme had been taken to heart and it was an incredible sight to see
Lots to do!
Once the walkers were in there was so much to see and do...pick up their meal (organic pasta or rice of course,) have a massage, buy a tattoo (or three or four..) go shopping at WalkWear, take a look at our Scalp Coolers, stock up on water, pick up a weather protector or just settle back and enjoy the entertainment!
Let us entertain you!
With the night in full swing our performers took to the stage. Every year we try to do something different and this years acts were just fantastic hitting the right note between excitement and style. When we added up all the musicians there were over a 100 of them which certainly kept our backstage staff busy, making sure everyone was running to time! Of note was Richard Shelton bringing the house down with an incredible rendition of "New York! New York!" but in this case it was "London! London!"
...and then there was Blake!
Generally accepted as the best piece of eye candy on the night was the fabulous Blake - need we say more?
The celebs
Paul O'Grady was also there on the night along with Sara Cox, Dawn Porter, Erin Boag. Paul became involved with Walk the Walk at the end of 2008 when Nina was awarded Fundraiser of The Year at the Pride of Britain awards (watch a film of that here,) Sara was here with a huge team from Radio 1, Dawn came along with a film crew from Sky and Erin was here to help with the warm up and because of this years theme!
Where does the money go?
Every year we take the time to explain exactly where all the funds that our walkers raise are granted. It's so important to Walk the Walk that we show what this money is doing. We did something different this year and had a few films made which you can watch below...
And they're off!
After a very moving one minutes silence to remember why we were all there, Roy Gayle picked up the pace and proceeded with our Guiness World Record Breaking warm up! It's always great fun to watch all the women doing it correctly and all the men...well try to do it correctly! The first of our 4 starts were called to the start line and with much fanfare, singing, shouting and the traditional "10,9,8..." countdown 15,000 walkers were off into the night!
It's not a race!
With 15,000 walkers out on the streets it takes quite a while for everyone to make it back from their challenge - whether that is 13 or 26 miles! But what makes it so special is that everyone has a story to tell as to why they are taking part (you can read some here.) We hope that everyone trains for the challenge but it is always tougher than people imagine! The emotion when you cross the finish line and pick up your medal is just incredible! We were lucky this year as the night was cool and fresh...there were some light showers around in the early morning but these soon cleared away...and still walkers crossed the finish line! Oh and we also had a proposal and acceptance of marriage (there were 2 on the night!)
Thank you!
So we come to the end of another fabulous event and Walk the Walk now heads north to Edinburgh! A huge thanks to all our walkers, wonderful volunteers, contractors and everyone else who was involved on the night!
Quote
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What a huge privilege to be included among the walkers on Saturday night. This was my first Moonwalk and I have to say it really had made a difference to my life. During training I lost 22lbs in weight and have a whole new size 14 wardrobe as a consequence. I have given up smoking (!) something I never thought I would manage and I have had the honour of walking in the name of 9 wonderful women. I decided to walk last year in honour of my friend Mel who was going through yet another set of Chemo following diagnosis a few years earlier. In November last year, at Mel’s funeral I agreed with her mother that I would be walking the walk in her name. Mel was 35 when she died. Following Mel’s story became increasingly aware of the people around me who were affected by this cruel disease and on the night I walked with 9 names on ribbons flowing from my bra. 4 of these wonderful ladies are in recovery and I walked in loving memory of 5 others.
One of my greatest supporters is my Mum, who is one of the fortunate ones, having had a negative result 5 years ago. She has been keeping all her friends up to date with my progress and on distribution of my photo, taken with two friends and fellow walkers she received this poem from our Vicar which I thought you would like to read:
“In their bras for charity and fun, Ladies walked by night across London.Titillating views Proclaimed good news Of Moonwalkers on their Marathon”
All credit for that to Toddy Hoare!
Thank you to all the organisers and the incredibly motivating volunteers – hearing “you’re doing so well” at mile 18 when you can’t imagine when the finish line will be is just what you need to hear – the smiles and the clapping are a wonderful added bonus! The lovely lady who gave me my medal gave me such a genuine hug that I was in bits and forgot to ask her name!
A huge thanks to all for such a wonderful and humbling experience – and thanks to my sponsors I’ve managed to raise £2602 – a fitting amount for a Marathon!!!
Lots of love and thanks
" Alex