VIDEO: School children in Welbourn do Mudathon to raise over £10,000 for Help For Heroes

Last week the PE Department at Sir William Robertson Academy in Welbourn staged their first fundraising '˜Mudathon' raising an amazing £10,438 for Help for Heroes.
Boys wade through the muddy ditch obstackle on the Sir William Robertson Academy Mudathon. EMN-161110-122719001Boys wade through the muddy ditch obstackle on the Sir William Robertson Academy Mudathon. EMN-161110-122719001
Boys wade through the muddy ditch obstackle on the Sir William Robertson Academy Mudathon. EMN-161110-122719001

The event saw over 700 students took part and the school has produced a video for its YouTube channel and website.

Students and staff from the Academy were over the moon with the amount raised.

Kerry Symmons, Head of PE at the school came up with the idea earlier in the year and the PE team helped plan and build the course on the field. All year groups took part in the 25 obstacles/challenges which ranged from the water slide, muddy ditch jumping, to the water pipe and tyre pull. Pupils from Years 7 to 11 undertook the challenge during the school day on Tuesday October 4 followed by Sixth Formers and staff taking part on the Wednesday.

GCSE PE Leaders helped run the day encouraging students at every obstacle and helping spread a little water and mud too.

All students were invited to take part in the fun challenge and gain sponsorship raising money. Many dressed up to take part in the Mudathon and they certainly got muddy. Despite the lack of rain, staff managed to make plenty of mud around the course.

The fundraising total continued to rise as each year group came down to do the Mudathon with Year Sevens getting the event off to a great start raising over £2,500 alone.

Pupils’ reaction to the event ranged from “This is the best thing I have ever done!” and “I loved it – can I go round again?!” to “Awesome!” “Amazing – can we do this every year?!”

Mr Symmons congratulated students on taking part. He said: “The purpose of the day was to enhance pupil resilience, raise money for Help for Heroes and to erode mental barriers individuals can often put on themselves. The event taught our pupils to push themselves beyond their natural comfort zone and foster a belief that anything is possible and that their potential to achieve is actually limitless. Over £10,000 was raised with many pupils raising hundreds of pounds.

“I would like to congratulate our top fund raiser Ewan Armstrong who managed to raise £235 for a very worthy charity.”

Nathan Cumberland, former Paratrooper and Invictus Games competitor from Newark will be coming into school on Wednesday October 19 to talk about his role as Ambassador for Help for Heroes, the challenges and opportunities he has experienced since his injuries and how the money raised helps people like him. Nathan is training for the next Invictus Games in Canada in September 2017 and hoping to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.