ROEDEAN pupils and teachers ran for 24 hours and raised more than £9000 for Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) – with many clocking up enough miles to have run a marathon.
The school’s Year 8 have been raising money for the charity all year and decided to challenge the rest of the school to join them in a sponsored run to try and achieve 777 kilometres over 24 hours on a course laid out in the Roedean grounds. The number 7s make reference to the shirt number of rugby league player Rob Burrows, MNDA charity patron.
The race was started by Majid Hafezparast, Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, with a special interest in Motor Neurone Disease. Professor Hafezparast cut the orange ribbon, and Year 8 streamed over the line to begin the challenge. They covered an amazing 251 kilometres in an hour but then had to go back into lessons, allowing years 7 and 9 to catch them up and get some distances on the clock. Everyone competing wore a chip so their precise distances could be logged.
But determined to add more miles, the 65 Year 8s and a group of teachers then returned to the course that evening and overnight, sleeping in shifts on crash mats in the sports hall between runs.
It quickly became apparent that the girls’ determination to achieve a big total had been underestimated so a new target was set of 1,777 kilometres and within an hour of the end of the 24-hour overnight challenge, they broke through that barrier too, finally reaching 3,079 kilometres and raising £9234.
Although the event was a collective endeavour, special mentions go to those who completed marathon distance or more – including head of maths Dominic Orys who astounded everyone when he walked or ran non-stop between 4pm on Friday and 1pm on Saturday, completing 84 kilometres and Year 8 pupil Katherine Haslip, who covered 57 kilometres and then left to compete in an athletics fixture.
The other star performers were teachers Greg Wilson, Ross Barrand, Tim Bond, Year 12’s Mancy Mok, who competed 50 kilometres, and Year 8’s Astrid Dickie, Bella Dye, Erin Lye, and Lili Phillips, who also covered at least 42 kilometres.
Professor Hafezparast said: “This is an amazing achievement. Please convey my deepest gratitude to everyone involved in organising the event, and special thanks to all the girls and staff who participated. Thank you also to everyone’s generosity and commitment to this important cause. This will make a significant difference in the lives of those affected by MNDA.”
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