An Edinburgh primary school had run the equivalent of half way around the perimeter of Scotland by 10am Friday morning - and aimed to run the rest of the way in time for lunch.
The kids at Craigour Park Primary school had been running around the playground since 8am as parents and students came together to raise money for a good cause.
“We’ve already hit 650 miles,” 10-year-old student Logan Kilday said, making a note on his whiteboard.
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Pupils and staff were hoping to get up to around 1,000 miles in the joint effort with all the individual runners' distances covered added to the total.
Peter Consitt and John Mowbray, PE teachers at PE and fitness, brought the event to their school as an extension of their Friday morning running club, which encourages healthy living.
“This event is great to raise awareness about health and fitness and it’s a chance to re-engage people who have potentially had bad memories of PE and fitness. It’s about promoting healthy lifestyles,” said Consitt.
The school was also running lap after lap to support Circle, a Scottish charity aimed at improving the lives of children and strengthening families.
Each year, Circle promotes the Do a Run Everyday (DARE) challenge, which challenges people to run every day in June to raise money for their community outreach programs.
“It’s nice to have the school doing this for us. The DARE challenge is the highlight of our fundraising year, and we love encouraging healthy living in local schools,” said Kirsten Wales, Circle’s fundraising and communications officer.
She said lots of schools, corporations and individuals take part each year with more than 140 participants registered for the 2022 challenge. More than £5,000 has already been raised for the charity.
Mark Kennedy, CEO of Circle, said the funds will go towards supporting community projects such as group work and mentoring activities.
“Within groups, parents work on developmental activities and learn about improving parenting skills. The mentoring activities involve Year 6 students helping kids with challenges at a sort of homework club,” explained Kennedy.
“The money we raise at Craigour Primary today and throughout the month goes a long way to supporting our community work.”
Every child in attendance had positive things to say about the event, particularly about ‘Sponge Alley,’ a section of the track where students through water and sponges at runners.
“The best part of the day is when you get soaking wet,” said 6-year-old student Logan.
Jenson, 8, agreed that it was his favourite part.
“I’ve run through 15 times, and it’s the best,” he said.
Not even teachers and parents were safe from a cheeky stray sponge as they ran alongside students.
“I’m proud to be here supporting my son as well as a good local charity,” said parent Chris Law.
“It was particularly fun going through ‘sponge alley’ and seeing the kids have a great time throwing water around. It’s just nice to see everyone come together for a fun day and a good cause.”
P3 teacher Sarah Montgomery agreed that the community aspect of the event was the best part of the day.
“It’s really lovely to see everyone together again and doing something for a good cause after Covid,” she said.
“It’s the biggest event we’ve had at the school since the lockdowns, and the kids have absolutely loved every minute.”
