A TEAM of volunteers are encouraging people to get their running shoes on for Oxford Children’s Hospital.

Simon Haynes, from Summertown, has directed a series of short films to urge runners to sign up to the OX5 charity run on March 10.

The annual five-mile run at Blenheim Palace, organised by the Oxford Mail, raises money for the Headington hospital to buy medical equipment.

This year, money raised will buy a portable ventilator to transport sick children between intensive care, theatres and the X-ray department, among other things.

This year £60,000 was raised from the run and donated by runners for the cause.

Mr Haynes, along with personal trainers Barry Grinham, Danny Kavanagh and Mark Johnson, have shot a series of short films on how to get up and running.

He is planning to make more in the new year to give tips on how to raise funds.

The director of SH Creative, a father-of-two, said: “My 10-year-old son Dylan broke his arm a few years ago, and we were treated by the children's hospital. I was both amazed and grateful for the level of care we received.

“It's a small thing but I was allowed to sleep on a makeshift bed next to Dylan overnight while the doctors decided whether to operate on the break. That meant everything to Dylan.

“It is brilliant to be able to work for a good cause and a good way of communicating. The personal trainers I have filmed have some great tips, and we want to get across that you don’t have to be an expert runner and you don’t have to break records to take part.

“I’ve worked on this type of thing before, to raise money for a mobile ultrasound scanner at Great Ormond Street Hospital so children don’t have to get out of their beds to go into an X-ray room if they are ill.”

Personal trainer Mr Grinham, 58, volunteered to help with the cause.

He said: “I’ll encourage my clients to run. A lot of them train with me here so we have a bit of home advantage but it is easy enough to do.

“I ran my first marathon years ago, in 1986 in New York, to raise money to buy some oxygen analysers for the John Radcliffe Hospital.”

Oxford Children’s Hospital spokesman Sarah Vacarri said: “The thing about the OX5 run is that it is an event that brings the community together.

“All the people here making this video are giving their time and energy because they care about their local children’s hospital.

“We hope these videos will help inspire people to sign up for the OX5 run to raise as much money as possible.”

Oxford Mail: ox5 enter here button

Enter online via the above button, by calling 01865 743444 or by downloading and posting in our  OX5 2013 entry form.pdf

If you or someone else has a special reason for entering then please email our OX5 Reporter Katriona Ormiston