Pupils take on 24-hour challenge with some running the length of a marathon

Pupils racked up the miles as they took on a gruelling 24-hour running challenge.

The efforts of students and teachers at Roedean School in Brighton raised more than £9,000 for Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), with many clocking up enough miles to have run a marathon.

The school’s Year 8 pupils 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 to 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 Burrow, MNDA charity patron who has the disease.

The race was started by Majid Hafezparast, professor of molecular neuroscience at the University of Sussex with a special interest in motor neurone disease.

Students covered 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.

Dom Orys, who completed a double marathon distance (Image: Roedean School)

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.

Read more: Seal pup spotted on Sussex beach

It quickly became apparent that the girls’ determination to achieve a big total had been under-estimated 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 £9,234.

Children ran for hours to raise money (Image: Roedean School)

Those who completed marathon distances or more included head of maths Dominic Orys who walked and 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.

Other star performers were teachers Greg Wilson, Ross Barrand, Tim Bond, Year 12’s Mancy Mok, who completed 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. 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."