Year 9 Barnardo’s Adventure Challenge

QEH Year 9 boys have been raising money for Barnardo’s for a long time - but this year is a little different.

Boys climbed Everest more than twice and rowed the Channel four times as well as running 4.9 marathons - virtually!

In their Year 9 School Council meetings it became apparent that they weren’t content with cake sales.  Robin Turner, a representative from Barnardo’s spoke to them in school assembly and mentioned that one school had completed a virtual race in order to raise money.

This inspired the boys and they extended this idea into an ambitious round robin competition in which they challenged themselves, both physically and mentally to overcome obstacles. They competed in four different events over the course of the morning. They: climbed the equivalent of Everest; rowed across the channel (and back again); navigated across an invisible maze and ran a marathon.

The aim was to raise the most money, through sponsorship, by covering the greatest distance in the shortest time. All events took place within the school grounds (and required a degree of imagination!).

As a Year group they had, by lunchtime, climbed the height of Everest two and a half times (Everest is 8840m), crossed the Channel four times and run 4.9 marathons (129 miles). They also took part in a more cerebral task where, working as teams, they solved the problem of navigating an invisible maze - no mean feat when they had no maps and couldn't speak to each other!

Not only did the Adventure Challenge raise £2100 for a worthy cause, it also encouraged the boys to think about the challenges that some young people have to overcome in their day-to-day lives. It was also a great deal of fun and there were prizes for form, team and individual efforts.

More information about Barnardo’s Challenge can be found at www.barnardos.org.uk .