Charter boat chefs walking a marathon aboard their vessels to raise funds for FSN

By Esther Durand, BVI News Staff

The Family Support Network (FSN) is expected to benefit from a fundraising marathon aboard two chartered catamarans in the neighbouring St Thomas, US Virgin Islands.

Event organiser Hannah Angel — a chef aboard Ohana of the Regency Yacht Vacation — said she and one other chef Laura Kurton will be walking a little more than 26 miles on their respective charter vessels on Sunday, April 26.

Angel said she became inspired to do the event after seeing a man conclude a social media marathon from his tiny backyard while on lockdown.

Gearing up for the event, Angel said she has set up a PayPal account to raise funds for the FSN and the Family Resource Centre in St Thomas.

“We have been getting donations from past guests of ours, friends and families back home and other crew friends. I just got another couple of donations in. So far, we raised to date $5,483. So we thought we would share it equally between the two charities,” she told BVI News on Thursday.

Ongoing training 

For the past two weeks, Angel said she along with Kurton — a chef on the charter vessel Sea Boss — has been engaged in rigorous training for Sunday’s event.

She said they intend to conclude the 26.2-mile walk in one go.

“Laura and I have been training. Our legs and our feet hurt but we are going to do it this Sunday which would be the date that the London Marathon would have been on, which obviously that is not being done now,” the United Kingdom native stated.

“So we will just stop to reapply sunscreen, have some water, maybe have a hose down, or go to the toilet,” the charter boat chef added.

Not an easy feat

Angel said the undertaking is no easy feat, but they are up to the challenge.

“This is the furthest I have ever walked in my life. I am not used to it. I work on the boat, and I am always cooking for guests so I don’t normally walk far at all. So it has been hard for me,” she admitted.

Meanwhile, Kurton told BVI News that as a former fitness instructor, she has always wanted to graduate from the half-marathons to a full marathon.

“The situation gave us the ideal opportunity because we had this spare time to not only train for it but to actually do it. It’s just keeping our spirits high, keeping motivated, and positive,” Kurton stated.

“We thought that it might be a novel thing to do to get people inspired and hopefully get more sponsors,” she added.

CLICK TO DONATE TO THE TWO CHARITIES