A man dubbed the ‘Running Man’ of Oldham is set to walk to Bradford in aid of the flood relief efforts in Pakistan.
Afruz Miah, aged 49, will work with the charity Global Relief Trust (GRT) on mini-campaigns to be held throughout September.
The campaigner has already held other activities around Oldham, including a fundraising car wash.
The walk from Oldham to Bradford, which is similar in distance to a marathon, is expected to take 12 to 13 hours.
A support vehicle will be stationed every 10 miles, to help transport back anyone who cannot complete the journey.
The overall target for the fundraising campaign is £50,000.
Working in partnership with Ashton Hiking Club, local charities and businesses, Afruz said: “We will have people joining us from Ashton, Hyde, Rochdale and Manchester and even as far as Birmingham for the walk.
“At least 20 to 30 people will be taking part. Everyone is welcome to join for whatever distance they are comfortable with. The target for the walk is £10,000.
“The objective of the campaign is to help people in Pakistan by providing food and temporary shelter such as tents. We aim to attract people from various towns and organisations and want to engage with 4000 to 5000 donors or above throughout the whole campaign.
“Just the fun fair we have planned will attract more than 3000 people.”
More than 33 million people have been affected by the flooding.
The ex-tutor stated: “We have people on the ground in Pakistan and some GRT volunteers have already flown out.
“I will be flying over to Pakistan myself after the campaign is completed in the first week of October at my own cost with other volunteers to help distribute aid.
“We will focus on the worst hit areas and GRT has already started working in Pakistan.” Afruz said.
“This campaign isn’t all about me and my running. So I thought about what is the next best thing that others can also join. In our community people are not used to running or mountaineering. Whereas walking is natural and can potentially engage everybody.
Afruz continued: “Anyone can join this flood relief effort, whether they are Bangladeshi or Pakistani or Muslim or non-Muslim.
“It is a humanitarian effort. There is no nationalism involved.”
GRT is a charity established in 2016 by Shaheed ur Rahman after visiting the Gaza Strip. It raised a staggering £7 million in 2021.
Shaheed said: “It’s easy to raise the money but it is hard to distribute the money. So we started to develop our teams. In every single country we work in, we have a team on the ground.
“Our teams in Pakistan are assessing the situation and are distributing aid every single day and going to areas that have been hit badly.”
Donations can be made at GRT’s fundraising page. Those wishing to sign up for the Oldham to Bradford walk can do so here.
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