Come 09.00 on March 29th, Hampsthwaite Primary School will set off on a mammoth cycling challenge, cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats in a cumulative 24 hours.

Each child at our primary school will have the opportunity to get involved in the ride, as will each parent, as the purpose of this ride is to raise money for improvements to the playground, and that’s where all the money received will go. What a fantastic legacy from such a colossal challenge.

The minimum the school would like to raise for playground improvements is £2,000. We are asking everyone to help us, neighbours, aunties, uncles, grandparents and whoever else can sponsor the event.

So how does all this work? Well, with an excel document which has been poured over to ensure that each child can ride and help get the school to the distance goal. We will also require the help of parents and carers as there will be two adult bikes to ride as well. In fact, we’d lean on adults and carers the most to get to the goal, for as hard as the kids ride, each bike would need to go at just over 12mph to hit the goal.

Our students and school community can sign up for 15-minute time slots, if they feel they have more than 15 minutes in their legs, they can select more than one time slot. Each class will be allocated a chunk for the school day and will cheer their classmates through the miles. time slots outside school hours can be signed up too, so plenty of opportunities for everyone to get involved.

Due to the nature of the event, it’ll only be open to children in Years 1 – Year 6. But Nursery and Reception need not fret. There will be plenty to do. They will be cheerleaders, flag-makers, and supporting their fellow school members to achieve the overall goal.

This is the most ambitious fundraiser we have been part of, and we are so excited and proud of what our school is trying to achieve.

Thank you in advance for all the support that you feel you can give to this fundraising event – whether that be signing up for a slot, donating money and asking others to donate too or coming into school to cheer the cyclists on. Without all our school community, this would not be possible.

We believe our children deserve the very best of everything because they inspire and motivate us each and every day; an improved playground is the least we can do for them.

“I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it’s not going to be satisfying”

Greg LeMond – former pro rider, three times the Tour de France champion and twice Road Race world champion