We are delighted to be welcoming Sunshine & Smiles back to Endure24 Leeds as our Local Charity Partner for 2026.
Sunshine & Smiles is a unique local charity offering vital support to people with Down syndrome, and their families, in Leeds and the surrounding areas.
We checked in with Sunshine & Smiles to find out more about their experience at Endure24 Leeds 2025, and why they decided to come back.
“We started our journey with a call with the Threshold team – we loved the idea of taking a team to Endure24 and getting other members of our charity involved. The signing up process was very straightforward, with Georgia and the team on hand at any time to answer questions and help us out right up to and including race weekend!
Being a local partner charity was great for Sunshine & Smiles. It gave us the opportunity to have a gazebo at the event and share with others the work we do, we felt very proud to be part of the event. Getting set up for race weekend was really smooth and we were supported so well by the Threshold team!
Runners lined up at the start of Endure24 Leeds 2025
Race weekend was absolutely amazing, everything was incredibly well organised, there was such a sense of support and camaraderie.
We were able to all camp together and had a fab cheer spot that we could all take turns to be on for all our runners over the weekend. We were also able to have a bigger cheer squad made up of families from the charity and they absolutely loved being out on the course cheering on all the runners, but reserving a special Sunshine high five for our team of course! Our team really gave it their all and it was a tough event but we’ve already got people signing up for 2026!
We had such a great time at the event and the whole process from the first call to race weekend was so supported that we were delighted when the chance to be local charity partner for 2026 came along – we jumped at the chance!
Obviously fundraising is a really important part of the event for the many charities who take part, and for us it was definitely worthwhile in terms of the funds we raised too, which will go directly to supporting children and young people with Down syndrome across Leeds.”
Interested in fundraising for charity at Endure24 Leeds 2026? Click the button below for more information.
