‘They have made us all extremely proud’: Pupils take on popular running event

More than a dozen pupils challenged themselves to take part in a town’s popular running event earlier this month.Some 18 children from Ashwicken Primary School joined thousands of others in running Lynn’s GEAR event on Sunday, May 5.Aged between six and eleven, the youngsters ran a 1.9km course as part of the Mini GEAR race.

The idea came about when PE lead Chloe Regester decided she wanted to promote the subject as being something fun for the kids to apply outside of school.After contacting the event’s main sponsor Recipharm, she managed to secure ten free places for the children to take part and was later able to receive funding from councillors so that all of the pupils could join in free of charge.“I think that it is so important for children to take part in these kinds of events, to experience the buzz around sporting events, and to feel a sense of pride,” Miss Regester said. “I think that it is also important to build resilience and team-building skills.”This was the first time Ashwicken had entered the event, and, since it was a roaring success, the school has already started planning its entry for next year.“As a school, we are very proud of the pupils for taking part in this race, they have made us all extremely proud,” Miss Regester added.“As this was on a voluntary basis too, it was lovely to see so many children and parents willing to take part on a Sunday.”