Schools Challenge

Stop Press: Congratulations to all our School’s Challenge runners who completed the challenge on race day and to MINI Plant for their support.

OXFORDSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS INVITED TO JOIN THE NEW SCHOOLS CHALLENGE

This year we are introducing the Schools Challenge for 4-11 year olds of all abilities, offering pupils (and teachers) the opportunity to run a half marathon and to experience the excitement of participating in a mass-participation road race, in a safe environment on traffic-free roads, in front of thousands of spectators.

• Pupils (and staff !) are encouraged to cover a total of 12 miles in the weeks before the event (say a mile a week, or half a mile twice a week), verified at school and by parents).

• The finale of the challenge will take place on the day of the Half Marathon, when pupils (and staff !) will complete the final 1.1 mile starting on the roadway outside the Kassam Stadium - just after the start of the main half marathon - on traffic-free roads, with a stadium finish inside the Kassam.

Registration will be through your school representative - contact your school for details. We will provide individual record cards for each pupil to record their mile runs in the weeks before race day.

• The £10 registration fee paid by each child includes a free T-shirt for every entrant.
• Free entry for staff wanting to run as part of your school team. There is no charge for participating schools.
• As this is a fun run, no prizes will be given, but all finishers will receive a goody bag and medal
• A minimum of 1 member of staff will be required to every 5 KS1 pupils (aged 4-7) and 1 member of staff to every 10 pupils thereafter.

Schools are asked to designate a named point of contact to co-ordinate your challenge activities, to collect pupil registrations and payments to be returned to the half marathon office before our closing date. The school representative will be invited to attend a Briefing Meeting to receive full details of race day arrangements, a couple of weeks before the event.

With the pre-event period straddling the long summer holidays we will encouraging schools and parents to submit photos of the children (and staff !) training runs for publication on our half marathon website or our Twitter & Facebook feeds. So we’ll be inviting runners to share their stories about all the unusual places they found for their mile runs in the holiday period, in the playground, in the park, round the pool, on the beach, up (or down) a mountain !

Pupils will be invited to fundraise for Helen & Douglas House, our designated Schools Challenge Charity, or for a charity of their own choice, but this is purely voluntary.

The Schools’ Challenge is intended to inspire the next generation and also to be a community achievement to be celebrated.

For further details contact your school representative, or use our Contact Form