kilimanjaro? pah, you havent seen wimbledon hill on a wet wednesday...

and in other news...seven thousand pounds, celebrities, and you lovely people do it again!

sorry sir, if your name isnt down...

psst, have you heard? we've got some pretty damn exciting news! We've done a spot of research and it turns out that people that give to teamellis are more generous, intelligent, witty and beautiful when compared to EVERYONE else. Furthermore, it gets better - initial findings reveal that, post donation, their jokes got funnier, their trains were less likely to be delayed, their toast always landed butter side up and they had much better sex. Gran must be having a blinding time. 

However, unfortunately it looks like some slebs have caught wind of the new teamellis wonderdrug, and are desperate to get access to this special VIP group. You may have spotted lurking at the velvet rope of despair, (but definitely NOT on a school night 'arry) trying desperately to catch the eye of our burly doorman and fending off the interest of screechy nicki from big brother. Fortunately, for your safety, we've managed to catch the worst offenders and post their mugshots on our flikr site. If you do see them, do not approach them, slowly walk away and when in a safe place, contact the appropriate authorities. They are not thought to be dangerous (except if you are female and you encounter callum best) but they will not stop at anything to steal your membership. Sadly they don't understand that you've either got it or you havent... Regularly check our site to keep updated with new faces to look out for

Finally, a huge thank you to all the new members of team ellis club. We are in seventh heaven (see what I am doing there?) that we've hit seven thousand pounds in this, our seventh week. It truly is a staggering amount of money and will make a huge contribution to the ongoing work of CLIC Sargent. We are all genuinely humbled by the generosity of each and every one of you towards this fantastic cause and cant wait to do you all proud on the day. Have a great weekend!

listen here barlow, what did i say? you may have well walked up kilimanjaro but are you on the team ellis list? quit your bleating and get back to the end of the line...and take van outen with you. sheesh, they'll try anything....

no celebrities were harmed in the making of this blog

THATS HALFWAY!

hark? what can I hear over yonder hillock? its not...no really...are you serious?! Folks, drum roll please because that big pat on the back you just felt and warm feeling inside you are experiencing means we've only gone and hit halfway!

3-0 to Milan in the attaturk stadium in 2005, godfather part 2, a glass half full (or half empty, depending on how you look at it), 6ft from the ground on Tom...all famous halfway points. and from this moment on we can proudly add 6th march 2009 as another heroic landmark because BOOOOOOM.... the lovely, generous, funny and may I say extraordinarily perceptive people (see their comment) at World Travel Awards helped us burst through our halfway target of £6125. 

Wow. That really is a huge amount of money and we are all humbly grateful for and overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone thats has donated so far. CLIC truly is an amazing charity who help countless children and their families every year, and its a real privilege to be doing something that helps them carry on their fantastic work. 

We are now doubly determined to hit our overall target of £12,250 by the time we get to the startline. We have set ourselves a target of £1,000 a week and if you havent donated yet, please please please log on to www.justgiving.com/teamellis and give whatever you can, its all massively appreciated.

Thank you so much, you are all absolute heroes and we really, really couldn't be doing this without you.

A Special Thank You

Team Ellis

We wouldn't normally do this but we felt that a special thank you was due after a spectacularly generous donation hit our page on Sunday morning. A sweepstake was held during the speeches at Nic and Stu's wedding this weekend with the winners pocketing a cool £120 in loot.

The delighted recepients of this windfall, Helen and Steve received the money and barely had a chance to count it before pledging the whole lot (plus a little more!) to our marathon cause. A phenomenal donation from a couple we had been introduced to a matter of minutes earlier.

Go Team Helsandsteve, it is hugely appreciated, you absolute legends!

Week Eight: Friday Club

With Nic and Stu's wedding this weekend, Bails, Jimbo and Mac agreed that Hangover-Sunday was a no-go for a 17 mile run. Instead they decided that as the rest of the team were suffering with various injuries and excuses (Chris was tumbling down snow covered green-runs, Tom is still recovering from Knee-knack, Gemma picked up a Gingerbarnet-knack and was off for an emergency operation back at the hairdressers and Pat had been called up to the Wales Squad at the last minute to face the French, good luck with that mate) that they should complete the arduous run on Friday night.

With the mornings hangover firmly consigned to the memory thanks to a busy day's fundraising, Matt and James set off from Philosophy Towers with the wind on their backs and the sun in their faces. This quickly turned into sweat covered backs and red faces but for two minutes it all seemed perfect.

Sarah's ingenius idea was for the boys to circle the London Bridge to Vauxhall lap anti-clockwise and for her to do the same route clockwise, this would ensure they passed each other for a motivational high-five at least once before each member of the team left the route for a run home. Amazingly this ploy worked and the boys were lucky enough to avoid bumping into Miss B as she flew towards them twice. They were of course caught in her jetstream as she blazed on but the stinging palm they were left with reminded us of the famous Team Ellis spirit.

James turned off for home after one lap and made his way down the Old Kent Road, through New Cross, Lewisham, Lee, Hither Green and all stations to New Eltham. Matt on the other hand completed a second lap before scaling the mighty Tulse Hill. A gradient so daunting that Sir Edmund Hillary once remarked 'Blimey that's steep'.

Overal a good 17 mile run was had by all, with three guests hobbling into the church the next morning desperate for a sit down.

Five Thousand Club

Anyone within six hundred metres of James on Friday afternoon will be well aware of how much it meant for Team Ellis to break the five-thousand-pound barrier at five-thirty. It was a tough one, we'll readily admit that, and a week where we almost dropped our fantastic record of a thousand pounds for every seven days of fundraising.

With twelve hours to go the team were looking at a 500 pound mountain to climb, by five oclock the good people of Sponsorshipland had reduced that to a mere 77 but that's where it stopped for a good half an hour. All was looking lost but as frantic last-minute begging emails were composed, Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms Annonymous (we know who you are) stepped in, with the 6pm deadline fast approaching, and valiantly came to our rescue.

Therefore, thanks to each and every member, that includes you Mrs Ki... Annonymous, and it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Five Thousand Club!

Your hard-earned sponsorship really does inspire and motivate us. Not to mention that each and every pound donated goes to children suffering with cancer and their families. The good folk at CLIC Sargent are well deserving of your support and you in turn are entitled to double-helpings of our gratitude.

Roll on next Friday...

Thursday night rehydration

This week has been a busy one for Team Ellis with a steady 16 mile run on Saturday for the boys, a 13 mile race in Brighton on Sunday for the girls, a 10 minute warm down on Monday, a fast 9 miles on Wednesday and the prospect of a long 17 mile run home on Friday night to contend with.

Therefore on Thursday after Gemma, Matt and James had completed their steady thirty minute lap round Regents Park they decided that a well deserved pint in Camden's famous Hawley Arms was in order. Gemma and her new rusty-barnet polished off a quick drink and a bag of dry roasted before sensibly heading for home. The boys however agreed that another wouldnt delay them too much... and then another would hardly keep them too long...

Waking on Friday morning James and Matt were shocked by the severity of the hangover that greeted them. Not to mention the palm-sweating fear induced by the realisation that the aforementioned 17 mile run was still firmly scribbled in the diary for that evening.

Tune in later to see how the boys get on after their strict Kronenburg, peanuts and chips preparation diet...

Four Thousand Club

It's that time of the week again... Thank you all.

I'm not quite sure how this keeps happening but amazingly for the fourth week in a row, you lot have stumped up the cash and kept our little total ticking over quite regularly. Friday was another hectic fundraiser and Team Ellis would like to say a huge thank you to all the members of the newly formed Four Thousand Club.

It's no exageration to say that each and every donation motivates and reminds us what a great cause we're doing it for. Your money will be very well spent. Thank you!

Four grand in four weeks... that's amazing.