Seemingly one step down from the madness of running across a searing desert with nothing other than a rucksack for company, the Club La Costa based Smile Foundation (La Fundación Sonrisa) hosted a charity fun run around it’s Costa del Sol resort on the 23rd July 2008.

As its name suggests, the “Smile Mile” was hardly a marathon and it was held in the early evening to avoid the midday sun, yet it was never short of supporters or volunteers willing to test their stamina on what was far from a level course – after all, in Spain, wherever you look there are hills!

The event attracted a mixture of finely honed athletes, enthusiastic amateurs, complete families, dogs and even pushchair-wielding parents and the, almost obligatory, unusual outfit was dutifully provided by the Smile Foundation President, Richard Fletcher, who bore an uncanny – not to say rather eerie – resemblance to former UK athlete David Bedford promoting a directory enquiries line.

The local Scout troop contributed by running the entire mile course backwards, and those scouts who didn’t run volunteered to man the watering stations along the route and even collected the used bottle caps to pass onto the local Lions Club charity.

Over 400 participants and in excess of 1000 spectators ensured it was a night to remember. Each runner paid 5€ to enter and not only received a Smile Mile t-shirt but also a certificate of participation, handed to them by UK snooker legend Willie Thorne as they crossed the finish line. Willie also acted as the guest race starter, heroically perched on top of the scaffold over the starting line as he saw everyone off at 20.00hrs.

Post race events went on well into the night. Willie Thorne presented silver trophies in three categories* and there were children’s games, bouncy castles, face painting and a live local band “Traffic Jam”. The traditional bar and barbecue provided the beer, burgers and hotdogs and CLC’s Executive Chef Jimmy Staros personally served up over 35 kilos of chicken wings with his secret spicy recipe.

The organisers would like to give their heartfelt thanks to the band, the numerous Club La Costa personnel and the employees of Antonio Gutierrrez Construction who worked unstintingly and deserve a huge credit for all their efforts.

In excess of €6,000 was raised from the Smile Mile event and 100% of the money raised will go directly to The Smile Foundation charity whose current project is the €3 million Cruz Dias Hospital/ADIMI Centre in Mijas.

Built in conjunction with Mijas Town Hall and planned to open in 2009, the hospital will provide respite care for the families of disabled, handicapped children from the local area and will be the first of its kind in the region. The Smile Mile event will bring the opening of the hospital, and a much needed service for the community, just that little bit closer.

With huge support from virtually every news publication on the coast and especially from Mijas Semanal, REM and Global radio and RTV 340 television, the event was extremely well promoted and combined with the positive atmosphere generated on the night itself, it already looks like the Smile Mile is going to be even bigger and better in 2009.