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School Endurance Event
The marathon endurance efforts of Year 10 and 11 pupils from Hethersett High School and Science College has resulted in a cheque for £3,164.30 being presented to the East Anglian Children's Hospice (EACH) charity. With more money still to come in the final amount raised is likely to top £3,500. About 80 pupils took part in the 24-hour indoor running marathon in February, 2009, with the aim of running 500 kilometres. The youngsters comfortably surpassed their target as joint organiser Dr Simon Fox told a school assembly: "We ran over 1,500 kilometres which is over 1,000 miles and we smashed our target," he said adding that the event had been a real test of the pupils' staying power: "It was a huge challenge physically and many of the pupils said it was the hardest thing they have ever done. Between 4 and 11 p.m it was lovely and a great deal of fun but by 3 a.m it had become very hard work. It taught everyone how to work as a team and it helped them to stay focused by remembering we were raising money for such a wonderful charity. In the current economic climate we didn't expect to raise so much money but everyone has been very generous," Dr Fox said. The cheque was presented by Head Teacher Rosemary Allen and Year 10 pupil Clare Webster to EACH's community fundraising co-ordinator Danielle Clarke who paid tribute to the efforts of the youngsters. "It is wonderful to get such support from the younger generation. It costs £5.5 million a year to run the three hospices in East Anglia and only 25% of that is Government funded, the rest has to be raised through fund-raising and donations," she said.
The Event
Pupils
from Hethersett High School and Science College put their best
foot forward for charity when they set out on a marathon endurance
challenge. A
total of 75 students embarked on the 24 hour event and raised over £3,500
for the East Anglian Children’s Hospice (EACH) charity. The
challenge kicked off on Friday 13th February at 4 p.m and over
the following day runners completed 500 kilometres, running
in pairs around a special circuit laid out in the sports hall. The marathon effort featured Year 10 and 11 pupils along with members of staff and other members of the school community. It was be started by local sporting heroes, boxer John Thaxton, athlete Paul Evans, footballer Craig Fleming and shooting star Mick Gault.
The
event was organised by members of staff Mark Shepstone and Simon Fox: A
circuit was laid out in the Sports Hall with students running around and
enjoying regular direction changes. The students were split into three
shifts for the challenge. The first, from four o’clock to eleven
o’clock, was be run by Year 10 students. The second shift overnight
was completed by Year 11 students from eleven
until eight in the morning. The final shift was open to all students and
finished at four o’clock on Saturday 14th February. Sponsorship
was be pledged on a special web site. To read the full Press Release sent out by the school ahead of the event click here.
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