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We recently caught up with the man behind the community of Brick Runners that we've seen popping up on social media to find out what's driven Chris to illustrate so many people:
Why did you start Brick Runners?
Back in May 2019 and I was looking for a way to meet my Spinal Research fundraising target for Berlin Marathon so as a way of saying thanks to supporters I started illustrating everyone as LEGO characters. It seemed like a good way to combine my work as a designer with running, I just had no idea that it would grow so much and so quickly!
Sally & Mark
How many have you created to date?
Honestly I think I’ve lost count but it’s somewhere over 400 now. People keep coming back for new costumes, new race outfits or because their families are jealous and want them as well! Sometimes I just create random ones when I’ve got free time and they don’t end up on the official count list.
Susie Chan
Which is your favourite?
There are so many great ones that I’ve created, especially for the National Running Show. I’ve had the pleasure of illustrating some real running royalty; Lazarus Lake, Susie Chan, Camille Heron, John Kelly. Kris Akabusi, just to name a few. Hands down though, my favourite so far is probably the one of my wife, Dani and I on our wedding day. I wanted to make an announcement with BrickRunners but I didn’t know what Dani’s dress would look like so I created 9 different versions. Luckily, one of them was very close!
Chris & Dani
How do people get their own Brick Runner created?
We’ve got two ways to join the BrickRunnner family: people can donate at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/spinalresearchbrickrunners and every donation gets a digital illustration. Alternatively, they can visit www.christopherallen.co.uk/brickrunners/ to order a personalised BrickRunners art print with 10% of proceeds going to charity.
Laz Lake - Founder of Barkley Marathons
How much have you raised for charity so far?
I’ve raised about £4000 in the last 8 months alone and the total is going up every day which is fantastic!
Anna McNuff
Any other plans to grow it further?
There are some exciting partnership plans in the work at the moment. A couple of fundraising initiatives like with RED January as well as race partnerships with Rhys Jenkins at Pegasus Ultra Running and Charles Sproson at MountainRun. The RED January team has been a great experience as well so I’m looking into making that group more of a permanent club, but we’ll have to wait and see!
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Many thanks to Chris for sharing his story behind Brick Runners. You can follow Chris & his Brick Runner accounts on social via the following links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrickRunners_
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brickrunners/
Happy running!
Team runr.
