Students at a secondary academy in Hemsworth, Pontefract, have been doing their bit to fundraise for Sport Relief. 

A group of Year 7 and Year 9 students at Outwood Academy Hemsworth took on some academy staff members in a ‘Bike off’ challenge. The challenge, which was all planned by the students, saw the student and staff teams take part in a relay on a number exercise bikes against each other. 

The winner would be the team who had cycled on their teams bikes for the longest amount of time.

The challenge began at 7:30am and following an intense six-hour battle, it concluded at 1:30pm with the students winning in emphatic fashion after cycling for a staggering 505 minutes, 102 minutes more than the staff team could manage.

Sport Relief was created to raise money to help people who need it the most, no matter where they are, either in the UK and around the world.The charity works with organisations to help those with issues of mental health, child poverty, domestic abuse and generally helping people have a safe place to live. 

Toby Rutter, Principal at the Wakefield-Road based academy and a member of the staff ‘Bike off’ team, said: “I am proud of the students for their organisation of this great event and their impressive performance in the ‘Bike off’. They were definitely deserved winners.

“At Outwood we believe in playing an important role in both the local and wider community, and supporting great charities and events like Sport Relief are an example of this.”

In addition to the sporting challenge, the academy held a traditional bake sale where students, and staff, brought in the cakes and sweet treats that they had made and in PE the students took part in completing the Sports Relief Mile to help raise awareness.

Overall, the academy raised an impressive £280.04 for charity.