Teachers and pupils on their marks for St Catherine’s!

A group of 14 teachers from a Preston primary school will be on their marks for St Catherine’s Hospice this May when they take part in the Great Manchester 10km run to raise funds for the charity.

The group from Cop Lane Church of England Primary School does contain some seasoned runners – including PE Subject Leader, Elliot Costas-Walker – but is mainly made up of those who were novices when they started out training at the beginning of the year.

Since then Elliot has been putting them through their paces at a weekly running club in preparation for the event on May 22nd in Manchester.

The group was inspired to pull on their running shoes in aid of the hospice after Richard Clark, the father of Year 1 pupil Sidney and Year 2 pupil Oscar, was cared for at St Catherine’s last year.

Richard’s brave battle – which he shared with readers of the Lancashire Evening Post through a regular column – included many fundraising runs which generated money for charity, so they were inspired to follow in his footsteps when organising something in his memory.

The whole school is also set to get involved, when they host their own ‘How many marathons can we run?’ challenge around the school grounds on Friday March 18th, as part of the national Sport Relief campaign.

Different year groups will take part at different stages throughout the day, completing various laps of the school grounds. The perimeter measures 0.5km, meaning 84 laps will be the equivalent of one marathon.

Students and teachers will be challenging themselves to see how many marathons they can complete between them in one day. They will be collecting sponsorship for their efforts, with half to be donated to Sport Relief and half to St Catherine’s Hospice.

Along with both of these challenges, the School Council is set to organise a Cake Bake in aid of St Catherine’s, with further fundraising activities also likely over the coming months after Cop Lane adopted the hospice as their main chosen charity for the year.

Mr Costas-Walker said: “We have got more than 200 pupils in the school so we are confident we can cover the distance of many marathons on March 18th.

“Richard was a real ‘marathon man’ so this seemed like a fantastic tribute to him, which will raise vital funds for two great charities at the same time. As a school we have all been touched by the Clark’s story and wanted to do something positive to show our support and love for them.

“We’re all really looking forward to what will be a fun-filled day on March 18th. Following on from that, my colleagues and I will be proud to pound the pavements of Manchester in honour of St Catherine’s in May. They have all embraced the challenge during training sessions over the past few months and are really looking forward to being part of the amazing atmosphere on the day.”

Norman Cutler, senior fundraiser at St Catherine’s Hospice, thanked everyone at Cop Lane for their wonderful support.

“These are three great ideas to raise funds for us and we’re extremely touched by the enthusiasm which teachers and pupils alike have shown for the different challenges,” he said.

“St Catherine’s can only deliver its specialised care and support in Central Lancashire because of the support it receives from local people. The contribution of Cop Lane will be a huge help as we work to raise the £3.7m of the £5m we need this year to be able to deliver our much-needed services.”

To sponsor the teachers in their challenge click here or visit the Cop Lane CE Primary School website.

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