Spotlight 10K Challenge at Regents Park

I am a Shiatsu Diploma student at The Shiatsu College in London. I am also part of the Marketing Sub-Comitee at The Shiatsu Society. I have a background in the Performing Arts and I am a member of Equity, the Actors Union, since 2001. The event coincided with the Shiatsu Awareness Month, so I proposed to co-ordinate a team of peer students from The Shiatsu College to give free taster sessions of Shiatsu treatments to the participants in the race. It was the perfect chance to bring awareness to a form of therapy that I think is very beneficial to the Performing Arts sector.

The Fundraising event was organised by the umbrella charity Acting for Others, formed by 15 other organisations of the Performing Arts sector, The Equity Charitable Trust being amongst them. The event was supported by high-profile stage and screen personalities such as Dame Judi Dench and Sir Patrick Steward. The aim of the event was to raise funds for actors in need of financial support. (www.spotlightrunners.com)

We arrived with enough time to set up a gazebo and exhibition stand with promotional material from The Shiatsu Society and The Shiatsu College and other information about Shiatsu. Before the event started, each of the runners was given goody bags where we had placed a flyer about the service we were offering that day and A Guide to Shiatsu leaflet. To build up interest, I talked to the runners and informed them that myself and some colleagues would be giving treatments after the race.

We treated over a hundred runners, some of the organisers and St Johns Ambulance first aiders. All were very happy with the gift of Shiatsu that we were bringing to the event. A lot of interest was generated and there were many enquiries about Shiatsu as a therapy.

Overall, our participation in the event was a great success, we got a lot of good feedback and it was a lovely experience for all of us. This was the first year of the Spotlight 10k Challenge. There is talk of it being an annual event and interest in us being involved again.