We are super lucky to have some Ultra Awesome Marathon Moon Bear Heroes running the 26 mile course for us for the first time ever! Our team comprises of current Animals Asia Sanctuary & Fundraising staff, previous Sanctuary staff and some amazing supporters too!

Find out about our fabulous runners below... you can send a donation HERE to wish them luck on race day!

 

Wendy Leadbeater & Tina - Former Senior Veterinary Nurse & supporter sister, China Bear Rescue Centre

I have been a supporter of Animals Asia since I found a leaflet in my work break room back in 2005, I applied to volunteer at the China sanctuary for three months. When I arrived at the sanctuary I immediately felt at home, the staff were all so welcoming and the bears were incredible. After just a few weeks the senior nurse at the time offered me a full-time job as a resident vet nurse. I accepted a one year contract thinking one more year away from home would be ok, little did I know that one year would turn into 10 years. I left my position as Senior Vet Nurse in 2017 to start married life with my new husband Chris and our Chinese rescue dogs but we did not move far, we now live in Hong Kong and I work for VSH as a Senior Specialty Nurse with the surgery team. This Brighton Marathon is a personal challenge for me as it will be just after a big Birthday and I will be running with my sister Tina, we knew immediately that any fundraising we would do would be for Animals Asia. I mentioned the idea to Eddie and Ryan who are still working in China and they were keen to join our team. Things spiraled from there, other former Animals Asia staff wanted to join and the Moon Bear Heroes team was born! Please give generously to support us over the next year of training and to encourage us over the finish line. Thank you from the bears and other animals across Asia that your money will support, 

  

Annemarie Weegenaar - Former Bear & Vet Team Director, Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre

I started as a Bear Manager at the China Sanctuary in 2006 and soon heard that a sanctuary was going to be established in Vietnam as well. I was over the moon when I was chosen to head over there to work together with a small team to set up a rescue centre from scratch in the beautiful hills of Tam Dao. Over the following ten years we completed the construction of most of the bear houses, had rescued over 150 bears and had a large and dedicated team caring for the bears on site. I left the sanctuary to head back to my home country and with this fundraising event I want to show that I have not forgotten about the most beautiful moon bears, and the best, dedicated and passionate team I have ever had the privilege to work with.

Nic Field & Dave Field - Former Bear & Vet Team Director & supportive brother, China Bear Rescue Centre

My Animals Asia story began in Autumn 2006 visiting China for the first time as a volunteer. That trip was life changing, during which I witnessed a rescue from a bile farm. A few months later I joined the team as a Bear Manager and by the end of 2010 was the Bear & Vet Team Director, a role I remained in until the end of 2018. I am hugely proud of the years with Animals Asia and consider it an honour and privilege to have worked with these incredible bears and amazingly compassionate and talented people. Although now, not on the front line of the organisation's work my support will continue forever. Inspired by the success of running the London marathon in 2018 - my first and by my incredibly talented running brother, David, this is a great opportunity to rise to the challenge again whilst supporting a very special charity. David is an old pro with marathons - with around 30 completed and a number of ultra marathons to add to his list of athletic achievements. He has long supported me and my work, as well as having first hand experience of the work in China after visiting in 2014. 

Ryan Marcel Sucaet & Mario Piedrahita - Current Bear & Vet Team Director & supporter fiancé, China Bear Rescue Centre

After doing cheetah conservation work in Namibia for four years, my life took a strategic and motivated turn towards China where I started as a Bear Manager in 2015. The idea of being just one small part of such a mission-driven and influential organization was inspirational. And this holds true today, four years later. Animals Asia has found a way to congregate an army of like-minded, animal-loving soldiers and as a result we are going to do our best to get our butts over that finish line. Mario is Spanish, Italian, Colombian living in Australia. He has been a devout supporter to AAF since I started working there. He has never ran a marathon and this event will be the start of a European trip for the two of us. Thanks to Wendy's brainchild, the idea of running a marathon seems and feels insane to me, especially as I type it here, cementing it into the internet forever. I have never accomplished anything like this before, but knowing that I will be running for a cause as charitable as AAF gives me all the incentive I need, well... your money will help too. This is not just running towards a 42.2km finish line but towards the end of bear bile farming, a feat we are so close to reaching in Vietnam.

 

Monica - Former Senior Vet, CBRC

I had the privilege of working at the China Bear Rescue Centre in Sichuan Province from 2010-2013 and continued working as a veterinary consultant for CBRC whilst based in Norway from 2013 to 2014. In 2015 I started my PhD at Washington State University, focusing on investigating the health and welfare impacts of bile farming and live bile extraction, most notably, how bile extraction can lead to the development of unique heart and kidney disease. The purpose of my research with Animals Asia was to provide science-based evidence to raise public awareness and ultimately impact policy, end bear bile farming and to save all bears from the fate of bile farming. I just recently completed my PhD and am so excited to join my Animals Asia family to run for the moon bears. I have completed multiple half marathons, several trail races including a 25K Challenge race earlier in 2019, and multiple triathlons, including my first two half ironmen distance triathlons in June and July of 2019. This, however, will be my very first official marathon and I am super excited to be representing Animals Asia and the moon bears. 

Lianne Ottewell - Corporate, Community & Events Fundraiser, UK

Having wanted to "save the bears" from the tender age of about 10, it was my 3-month internship at our Bear Rescue Centre in China in 2015 that really sealed my fate with our beloved moon bears. I knew then just how important Animals Asia - and everything it stood for - was to me. When the office moved to Plymouth in 2017, I was lucky enough to secure a job in the Supporter Care Team and have since moved into our Community & Events fundraising team. I get to see on a daily basis just how much our bears inspire people, and I am in constant awe of the challenges our supporters take on in their name. It's only fair that I tackle something seemingly impossible too! Having tackled Half Marathons and a Skydive for the animals already, I'm excited to be truly stepping out of my comfort zone to help raise vital funds and awareness so that we can continue our campaigns, and eventually rescue the final bears in Vietnam; with a prize as golden as that, 26 miles doesn't seem quite so daunting. 

Danielle - Supportive & inspired friend of Nic Field

I first became aware of Animals Asia through my friend Nicola (also part of this team and former Bear Team and Vet Director in Chengdu). As I read her updates, I was extremely moved by the plight of these bears and the wonderful work that Animals Asia do in improving the quality of life for so many animals. Running (and completing!) a marathon has always been one of my life goals. I’m not a natural runner but over the past couple of years have worked hard to improve and have managed my first few half marathons which has then inspired me to enter my first Marathon. As a teacher working in the environmental education sector to inspire young people about caring for the wonderful animals that we are lucky to share Earth with, running as part of the Moon Bear Heroes team for me is a no brainer – scary none the less, but I know the bears will inspire me to reach the finish line in Brighton. Any donations will also certainly help to spur me on!

 

Lynne Chitty – Long-term supporter & Mid-Devon Animals Asia Group Co-Ordinator

I have supported Animals Asia for many years now and co-ordinate the Mid Devon Support Group. We have a very special adopted bear called Little Pearl who is in Nanning waiting for her move to the sanctuary in Chengdu. Every step of the way I will be thinking of her and her poor brothers and sisters still waiting for their cage doors to open and their new lives to begin. Despite all they go through the bears teach us so much and they are the inspiration behind my marathon journey. If they can overcome terrible cruelty, then I can tackle 26.2 miles! With their courage and their spirit in my heart I will give it my best shot and try and raise as much as possible.

Until every cage is empty and the cruelty ends....