Gosport teenagers raise £5,000 for the NHS through completing combined effort to run 1,050km

When lockdown was extended on April 16, 10 Gosport 15-year-olds came up with the idea of each running 5km a day for three weeks, to commit to helping key workers and spend some time away from their games consoles.

Commitment to the cause saw Bay House students Alex Brewer, Ben Webb, Fin Shields, Jake Parker, Jake Wright, Noah Meysen, Sam Clarke, Taylor Edwards, Zak Ware and Harrison Brenchley tackling their run each day and raising more than £5,000 - which is five times their initial target of £1,000.

The team decided to end their challenge in style by donning fancy dress outfits for the final fundraising dash.

Fin, who dressed up as Spiderman on his last run, said: ‘I enjoyed it because we kept fit and raised money for a great cause.

‘I hope the NHS use the money to the best of their ability, even though the money is small in the grand scheme on a national scale.’

Donations flooded in from teachers, parents, friends and neighbours to add to the total - which is way beyond what any of the boys imagined they would raise.

Zak, who crossed his finish line in an Oktoberfest-inspired outfit, said: ‘Great to use my one exercise a day to help support our wonderful NHS throughout this difficult period. It really motivated us on the rainy days.’

Ben added: ‘It was really nice to give back to the people that are protecting us at the moment.’

Other wacky costumes which could be spotted on the streets of Gosport on their final runs included a Roman soldier, Pringles tube, 80s rocker, Elvis, Superman, 118 man and a court jester tutu.

Jake said: ‘It was hard towards the end but worth it for the amount of money we raised.’

Sam added: ‘It was good to do something good for a great cause and something that was good for ourselves as well.’

To donate to their fundraising total, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/lockdown1000

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on portsmouth.co.uk. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to portsmouth.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit our Subscription page now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.