After a lot of hard work and organisation by the charity team of Charlotte Archer, Madeline Archer, Karla Barr, Faith Moore and Sasha Richardson, the
amazing cyclathon for Children in Need had arrived. The event took the form of a continuous cycling challenge between the staff and the Upper 6th
pupils in the Lodge Road Crush Hall and took place on exercise bikes, kindly lent by Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.
We thought it would not be an easy feat to create an army of cyclists for both the teachers and the pupils but the willingness of the students and
staff was unbelievable. An outstanding effort was made by all participants as well as all those who helped the day proceed without fail. Shannon
Evans, Lauren Dorrens, Charlotte Parr and Ciara Richmond helped the charity team enable this fantastically adrenaline fuelled day to run smoothly.
The day’s events were all in the best of spirits and started with 10 and 15 minute slots for the cyclists. Early on we saw our first elongated blast
with Mr Stewart putting in an outstanding effort in his 40-minute stint. This was followed by excellent performances from Finlay Bacon, Christi
Hamilton and Ben Turner for the pupils but these were counteracted by Mr Arnold, Mrs McCurdy and Mr Semple. A special mention must go to Mr Hamilton
who cycled for a total of 45 minutes at an average speed of 20mph. Who knew that he was such a beast on the bike?
As the morning progressed and after much sweat, vomit and downright determination we saw the boss take to the bike. Dr Carruthers rushed into the building
and onto the saddle to put in more miles for the staff team. The crowds watched the battle continue through lunchtime before Mr Douglas had his
turn and successfully increased the teachers lead to 3 miles. With only 30 minutes to make up the difference Matthew Boreland, Rosanna Johnston
and Ewan Doherty pedalled to the point of sickness. Finally, the last 5 minutes of the race had arrived but an ‘accidental’ press of the reset
button made the teacher’s mileage drop back to zero! No fear, we are not a grammar school for nothing and quickly put out maths to the test to
calculated the total mileages. Unbelievably the pupils and staff had both cycled 106.8 miles so it finished off a draw!
The day raised almost £600 so far for Children in Need and the charity committee would like to thank all who participated, donated and were involved
with organising the event.
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