Kenilworth Rotary’s Two Castles Run continues to fund charities in 2020

Kenilworth Rotary Club's Two Castles Run has continued to help charities this year despite the event being cancelled.

Normally an annual event, the 10k run between Warwick and Kenilworth Castles, was due to take place on June 14 but in March an announcement was made postponing the event due to the pandemic.

The event usually raises thousand of pounds for charity and the Rotary club were faced with refunding the entry fees due to the 'unprecedented' circumstances of the cancellation.

Despite this many people who paid the entry fee asked the club to donate the money instead of refunding it.

A spokesperson from Kenilworth Rotary Club said: "What would have been the 38th time the Two Castles Run event had been held the event on 14 th June has like so many sporting events been cancelled due to Covid 19 restrictions.

"This event normally raises around 50k for charity.

"With 4,000 entrants signed up already at the time the Kenilworth Rotary Club were left with no alternative but to cancel the club had incurred considerable forward expenses.

"To be as fair as possible to all registrants we paid our forward suppliers and dipped into our contingency funds to refund as much of the entrance fees as possible .

"Whilst the event has a 'no refund condition of entry' the circumstances that led to cancellation were unprecedented, so Kenilworth Rotarians felt we should refund as much as possible.

"This of course would have left us with nothing to distribute to charity.

"However, some 850 plus registrants generously advised they did not want a refund and asked the club to donate their refund to our Charity accounts.

"This means that despite no event this year some £15,000 will be distributed to charity and good causes.

"This week is the right time for all of us at Kenilworth Rotary to say a big “thank you” to these generous people.

"We will be back in 2021 where a big welcome awaits our supporters."