Charities across Scotland are set to benefit from £5m raised by this year’s Kiltwalk.
Due to coronavirus restrictions, the event had to be held online this year with participants walking, running, cycling or swimming separately.
The total raised from the virtual Edinburgh event on September 13 was announced on Tuesday morning, with £1.3m raised by Kiltwalkers, which was matched by The Hunter Foundation.
That adds to the total raised between events for Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen, which will be split between over 900 different charities across the country.
BREAKING NEWS! 📢
Kiltwalkers, @SirTomhunter has a huge update on your #VirtualKiltwalkWeekend fundraising… 🤩
Hear from the man himself 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/bAVIMk5mVO
— Kiltwalk (@thekiltwalk) September 22, 2020
Sir Tom Hunter thanked those who took part for their “Kiltwalk kindness.”
In a video message, he said: “It’s been a very strange year, we’ve not been able to walk together for obvious reasons, but between Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and now Edinburgh, you Kiltwalkers have raised an amazing £2.5m for the charities you care about. And The Hunter Foundation has topped it up by another £2.5m.
“The folks who really need it are getting a hand up, not a hand down. So thank you.”
He added: “We’ll be back next year, no doubt about it. You can’t keep a good Kiltwalker down.”
Kiltwalk chief executive Paul Cooney said: “The coronavirus outbreak has brought hundreds of charities all over the country to their knees, because fundraising has virtually ground to a halt.
“That means many of the most vulnerable people in our society are suffering enormous hardships, so we really want to thank every one of our fundraisers for stepping into the breach.”
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