Joe's fundraiser for the Bhubesi Pride Foundation

Joe Moss will be running this month’s Larking Gowen Ipswich Half Marathon to raise funds for the Bhubesi Pride Foundation.

The foundation seeks to develop as a youth development organisation that utilises sport for development (S4D) and supplementary education to ensure that Malawian young people are able to overcome social, economic and health challenges so that they are able to realise their full potential. As a grassroot local organisation, BPF Malawi will ensure that all its programming activities are in line with Malawi 2063 and its corresponding 10-year plans

“My name is Joe Moss, a 22-year-old male who is a mechanic by trade, but whose hobbies include running, football and fashion. Whilst always being fairly active, when I left school at 16 I stopped playing football and focused more on working (doing an apprenticeship and starting to look into building a clothing brand). However, little did I know how much I'd miss being active. So, at the age of 21 I decided to rekindle my love for sport by joining a football team. After my first season I felt that my fitness needed to improve, thus leading me to not only pick up running in April 2024, but also to make the decision to take the plunge into signing up for my first half marathon. 

“Unfortunately, it wasn't all plain sailing, as just one month into training, I suffered an injury of tendinitis in my hip flexor. This prevented me from any kind of running or training until late July, this was a tough set-back as it was just 10 weeks until the big run! Nevertheless, instead of being downbeat, it instead motivated me even more to complete and accomplish this big challenge I had set myself for a sub 1h 45m half marathon.

“When one of my girlfriend's older sisters, Gracie, introduced me to the Bhubesi Pride Foundation I was instantly inspired by the cause and straight away I wanted to do anything I could to contribute to such a great cause. In my case this was the half marathon. My girlfriend's family lived in Malawi, Africa for a number of years, before moving back to the UK, and it is great to be able to give back to Malawi through BPF, knowing first-hand how much the country and people mean to me and my girlfriend's family.

“BPF is an incredible charity, founded by Richard Bennett in 2013, based primarily in Malawi. Which introduces children and young people into sports, such as rugby and netball. BPF helps to not only teach and empower the youth, but to build sports and community centres in order to bring communities closer together. BPF has grown a lot since 2013, being able to now build 12 community projects including IT systems, desk installations and classrooms in 8 different African countries. 

“Through working closely with Richard and the incredible team at BPF it has motivated me and has inspired me to challenge myself in many ways, in order to make a change to somebody else's life, helping in any way I can. Not only trying to achieve my personal goals, but to drive and inspire other people to smash their goals too.”

Good luck Joe, we look forward to watching you cross the finish line! 

To support Joe on his fundraising mission, you can do so by clicking here

Entries are still open for the Larking Gowen Ipswich Half Marathon taking place on Sunday 22^nd September. For more information and to sign up click here