The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will cheer on runners partaking in this years Virgin Money London Marathon as part of Heads Together and supply every runner with a Heads Together headband to sport along the run.
Prince Harry has recorded a video message for all 39,000 runners encouraging them to wear the Heads Together headband which will be distributed at the event in a bid to transform it into the ‘mental health marathon’ and hopes to get the entire country talking about the importance of mental health.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are spearheading the Heads Together campaign to build on the great work that is already taking place across the country, ensuring that people feel comfortable with their everyday mental well-being, feel able to support their friends and families through difficult times, and that fear no longer prevents people talking or getting the help they need.
For the first time, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend this year’s London Marathon to support runners taking part for their mental health campaign, Heads Together. Their Royal Highnesses will cheer on all runners at certain points along the route and Prince Harry will be at the London Marathon Expo, where he will be encouraging runners to wear their headbands; “Whatever cause you are running for, wear your vest with pride, and please wear your Heads Together headband too. Together we’ll get the whole country talking about mental health.” Prince Harry also announced that all runners, whatever great cause they are running for, will receive their Heads Together headband when they pick up their race number and be able to wear it on race day to show how much mental health matters to us all stating: “We want to use this moment to help end the stigma that stops people talking and change the conversation about mental health for good. You can make it the mental health marathon.”
The Heads Together headband will be worn by runners in this national movement to end the stigma around mental health once and for all. Mental Movement writer Poppy Ferrugia, who has been training with for the Marathon over the past 6 months for a BBC documentary and blogging with us about her experience, will also be running in support of Heads Together and her chosen charity, YoungMindsUK.
Heads Together have also announced that everyone will be able to support the mental health marathon by wearing their own Heads Together headband on social media. A number of innovative ways that people can wear a headband online to be part of the ‘mental health marathon’ will be announced in the coming weeks. To kick off the campaign and get as many people as possible wearing headbands to show their support, Heads Together and Twitter have unveiled a custom emoji of a smiley face wearing a Heads Together headband, which appears automatically when you use the hashtags #HeadsTogether #TeamHeadsTogether and #oktosay on the social media platform.
In part of Prince Harry’s message to encourage all to get involved, he says: “You’ve been training for months and the start line for the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon is finally within sight. I’m sure it will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. William, Catherine and I will be there to cheer you all on.”
You can follow Heads Together on the socials to find out more:
Twitter: @kensingtonroyal / @Heads_Together
Instagram: KensingtonRoyal / Heads_Together
Facebook: @TheBritishMonarchy / @HeadsTogetherCampaign
Youtube: Heads Together
