Scarborough Sixth Form College students go the extra mile

Christian Machen, the college’s sports coordinator, said: “We only tried to get a few of our academy students together, but in the end we had nearly 40 in total.

“The plan was to run a marathon, cycle a leg of the Tour de Yorkshire and row across the Channel.

“We wanted to raise funds for the Gallows Close Centre because we were aware of the amazing work they do for the Barrowcliff and Newby area.

Kimmie Avison, centre manager at Gallows Close said: “They sent an email out of the blue saying they would normally raise funds for Children in Need, but one of the children had recommended the centre

“We’re hoping the money raised will allow us to continue our young people’s activities next year.

“We only have eight weeks left of our Two Ridings grant which also enabled us to set up our ex-servicemen’s project where we’ve been putting ex-servicemen to work doing crafts, woodwork, poetry, reading, anything that they want to do really.”

Mr Machen said: “We usually do a student/teacher dance off to get sponsorship, but that was cancelled due to covid. The kids came up with this idea to help raise spirits and funds.

“They’ve really come up trumps and have been getting in sponsorship left, right and centre

“Robbie Hawkes of Hawkes Health gave his time and also donated £100 worth of vouchers to the centre, which means that five childrens will be able to get some coaching when they probably wouldn’t have got the chance.”

In total the students completed four marathons, rowed the channel (in 1hr 48.06minutes) and did 184km of the Tour de Yorkshire.

So far they have managed to raise over £1,000 and the money is still coming in.

If you would like to donate, the Just Giving page can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/s6fsportsdeptcharitychallenge