Sophie Smith Raises $1million (And Counting) For Tiny Babies

By Belinda Findlay on February 6, 2014 in News

Picture: Jesse Taylor

“If only” – don’t you just hate those two tiny words!

Well, if you do, let it be known that we at The Beast told you to join Sophie Smith’s Running for Premature Babies team in this year’s Sydney Morning Herald half marathon on Sunday, May 18.

For those of you who’ve been hiding under the doona or living in denial on the couch, you may not have heard of the amazing Sophie Smith and her equally inspiring husband, Ash. They’re locals, from Randwick, and they’re parents to five beautiful sons: Henry, Jasper, Evan, Owen and Harvey. Tragically, their first-born triplets, Henry, Jasper and Evan, lost their brave struggle for life in 2006 after their extremely premature arrival at 24 weeks.

“After our little boys died, Ash and I were determined they’d never be forgotten and that something good would come from their lives,” Sophie said.

That was the start of the Henry, Jasper and Evan Smith Trust Fund at The Royal Hospital for Women Foundation, which up until now raised funds through Sophie’s team in the SMH Half Marathon to buy life saving equipment to support critically ill and extremely premature babies at the hospital. Amazingly, Sophie’s team’s hard work last year helped bring her total fundraising efforts over seven years to an outstanding $1million – that’s 26 pieces of life-saving equipment for the tiniest and sickest babies in NSW. But she’s not stopping there.

When you join this year you’ll become one of the 400-plus strong team of increasingly well-known purple singlet wearers who complete the 21.1km course (this can also be run as a two-person relay). To get you there you’ll be supported all the way with a free 16-week training program (which begins this month) for all running abilities, from complete beginners to die-hard athletes. To top it all off, you’ll help raise over $200,000 to kick start Sophie’s new fundraising focus on research into prematurity.

So dust off your shoes, grab a friend and join now to help Sophie reach her new goal. Don’t be the one to wake on May 19 and say “if only”.

To register, jump online and check out www.runningforprematurebabies.com.