Marathon man Joe runs 47 miles in one day to raise £5,000 for Gaza

Local Joe Cruttenden ran nearly 50 miles on Saturday 23 August to raise essential funds for the Al Mawasi community in Gaza which has longstanding ties to Hastings. Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Katy Colley reports.

Joe’s ‘Big Run for Gaza’ started at Eastbourne and went along the coastal path through Bexhill, Hastings and Pett to Rye and then back along the 1066 path to Battle.

He covered the distance in just over eight hours and was accompanied at different points along the route by other runners and cyclists.

His online fundraiser started out at just over £2,000 on Saturday morning but with regular social media updates, it rose throughout the day and now stands at £5,074.

‘Blown away’

Joe says he is ‘blown away’ by the support he has received and is currently resting his tired legs at home in Bexhill, treating himself to fry ups of sausages, eggs and curly fries.

Joe, 45, explained that he had been aware of the injustices against Palestinians for several years but began looking into the issue closely after 7 October 2023.

‘It made me want to find out more so I read Palestine: A 4,000-year history  by Nur Masala. It took me ages – it’s a hefty book – but it really made me see how the Palestinians have been oppressed for years how the world allowed it to happen, and continues to allow it to happen.’

Once he started to educate himself on the subject Joe said he realised how much the mainstream media was skewed towards representing the Israeli narrative.

‘I started watching Al Jazeera recently and it’s a really good news channel,’ he said. ‘But if you stick to the main news channels or if you read any of the sort of the main right wing newspapers, you’re not going to get any decent factual balance or, non-biased information.’

Al Mawasi

Joe says many of his friends and family share his view and have supported his efforts to raise funds for the fishing community of Al Mawasi in southern Gaza which has longstanding links to Hastings through the Hastings Friends of Al Mawasi group.

Since 2021, the group has run English language classes and established community friendship ties, as well as raised funds for the local Resilience Committee to put towards solar panels, internet connection, a well, women’s workshops, a bakery, food parcels, and educational resources.

In the last two years, this vital connection has become life-saving after hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians were forced to flee to Al Mawasi during the military onslaught. Displacement has made it impossible to earn a living and the ongoing siege means food is scarce and expensive.

This July, Hastings Borough Council passed an historic motion to support the town’s deep friendship links with the people of Al Mawasi and on Saturday 29 August there is a celebration of this formal tie with a ceremony hosted by the Mayor at the council offices, followed by a parade and a reception at the mosque.

Joe says he is aware of a small minority in the community who oppose those showing solidarity or empathy with Palestinians – and he puts this down to racism.

‘Palestinians, Muslims, people of Arab descent, they’ve faced racism here for quite a long time,’ he said. ‘And I think that’s what it boils down to, because the facts are there which allow you really to see how awfully the Palestinian people have been treated.’

Joe is no stranger to big challenges. He did his first 100-mile ultra marathon earlier this year and took on a Sunrise to Sunset challenge last year, raising funds for the mental health charity Mind UK, walking from five in the morning to nine at night.

Joe said he felt tired a couple of times on Saturday’s run, but the support he got along the way from friends running and cycling with him gave him a boost and whenever he entered a new town, he was met by a cheering crowd which kept him motivated.

Now, even as he recovers from Saturday, he is planning his next challenge, spurred on by his determination to help the Palestinians in Gaza.

‘I chose to run on Saturday,’ he said. ‘I have the luxury of being able to choose when, where and how long I run for. The people I ran for on Saturday, they don’t have a choice. They are being forced to run, to flee for their lives, and have been forced to run for many, many, many years, even as far back as the Nakba of 1948 when 750,000 people were forced to either run or walk away from the towns and the villages where they had called home their whole lives, and they still are not allowed to go back. So I feel privileged to have the freedom to choose where and when I run.’

Joe says he is considering running the entire coastline of Sussex, which is approximately 120 miles, but for now he is giving his running shoes a rest.

Joe’s fundraiser is still live – if you want to donate visit
https://gofund.me/b57d0c37

For info about the Hastings & Al Mawasi Celebration Event visit
https://fb.me/e/6NtIEpmTQ

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