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The MoonWalk is a UK based charity walking marathon ("Full Moon") and half-marathon ("Half Moon") participants Power Walk their way around the course wearing brightly decorated bras to raise money for breast cancer causes. The event is held annually in London, Edinburgh and Iceland. It is run by the grant-making breast cancer charity Walk the Walk and since the first MoonWalk was held in 1996 over 350,000 men and women have raised over £100million. The 2017 MoonWalk London will be the 20th London event and the 2017 MoonWalk Scotland will be the 12th.
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Celebrity participants have included Lorraine Kelly, Jennifer Saunders, Caitlin Moran, Penny Smith and Harriet Thorpe.
The charity's patron is HRH Prince of Wales.
Event history
In 1996 charity founder Nina Barough had a dream that she was power walking the New York City marathon in a bra to raise money for breast cancer. She decided to do just that and that year she and 13 friends walked together and raised £25,000 between them. Two months later Barough found a lump in her own breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer herself. Throughout her treatment for breast cancer she continued walking as a way of staying fit and positive during her treatment. After receiving the all-clear, she and a group of 50 people planned to walk the London Marathon to raise more money. Not enough places were available so Barough organised her own walking event through London the night before the marathon was due to take place - this is where the idea of a nocturnal walk began. Over the years the event grew to include thousands of participants, who gather together in a large tent before setting off through the streets of London at around 11pm. Each event has a theme and walkers decorate their bras accordingly.
In 2006 the first MoonWalk Scotland was held in Edinburgh - offering a challenging route through the city and more distances including a back-to-back marathon of 52.2 miles (the "Over The Moon") and a 6.55 mile walk aimed at children and newbie walkers (the "New Moon") So far the charity has raised £19m through the MoonWalk Scotland, with most of the money raised staying North of the border.
There is also a walk at Lake Myvatn, Iceland, which because of its location is the only one of the overnight walks to take place in full daylight. This route is more rural, starting and ending at the lake's hot spring baths.
Charities supported
Money raised by the MoonWalk has been granted to a number of different causes including:
Breast Cancer Now's Legacy Study
Breast Cancer Campaign's Tissue Bank
Penny Brohn UK
The Haven
Maggie's Centres in Scotland
The charity has also supplied scalp cooling equipment (hypothermia/cold caps) to 270 hospitals.