On Friday 20 September the streets of four major cities were paved with orange as people from Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and London including former Paralympic runner and five times gold medallist, Noel Thatcher and 102-year-old Fauja Singh, the world’s oldest marathon runner, took part in the Carrots NightWalk 2013.

The event organised saw nearly 850 people take in iconic views of the cities.

Supported by National Eye Health Week, was part of a series of walks that took place with the event expected to raise over £200k to help pioneering eye research.

The walks, sponsored by Healthspan, saw supporters embrace the Carrots theme and dress up for the six mile or 15 mile walks.

The face of this year’s Carrots NightWalk was former Paralympic runner and five times gold medallist, Noel Thatcher. He said: “I wanted to support Fight for Sight and the Carrots NightWalk as I believe that research will eventually prevent sight loss and can help treat eye disease. I know first-hand the difficulties that sight loss can cause and it would be great if there is a future that everyone can see.”

Julian Jackson, Director of Development and Marketing at Fight for Sight who lost his sight three years ago, aged 47, because of Retinitis Pigmentosa, a progressive congenital retinal disease said: “We are extremely grateful to everyone who took part in the Carrots NightWalk and made it a huge success. From the walkers, volunteers, speakers, partner charities and supporting organisations everyone was fantastic and pulled together to make it a memorable night.”

The Carrots NightWalk is an opportunity for charities to come together. Fight for Sight worked in collaboration with; RP Fighting Blindness, International Glaucoma Association, Nystagmus Network, Childhood Eye Cancer Trust, PMRGCAUK (Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis UK) Birdshot Uveitis Society, Uveitis Information Group, British Thyroid Foundation and Thyroid Eye Disease Charitable Trust plus many others.

A special thanks to Healthspan, The UK’s number one direct vitamin and supplement supplier, for supporting all four events this year.