Rossett School's Sponsored CrossFit WOD

Rossett School's Year 8 didn't know really what they were in for when they bravely trooped into their Sports Hall on Wednesday 7th December for their sponsored CrossFit WOD (work-out for the day) in aid of Women for Women International.

As I've said in previous posts, CrossFit focusses on strength, endurance and high intensity exercise and was a crucial part of my training for the Everest Trek. So when Rob Beever, the Head of Year 8 at Rossett, invited me to talk to the year group about my trek and fundraising and suggested the pupils might like to raise money through a sponsored challenge, I immediately asked my coaches Andy and Pete from CrossFit HG3 in Pannal (http://crossfithg3.com) if they could help. And they immediately said yes!

One of the great things about CrossFit is that it's totally scalable so that whatever a person’s age and level of fitness they get a great workout and great results.  It’s also brilliant for children and teenagers and the gym in Pannal already runs a thriving CrossFit Kids club.

Together with 7 of their CrossFit fanatic members, who very generously gave up their time to help, Andy and Pete managed to get nearly 200 12 and 13 year-old pupils through a really tough work-out. They did an 8 minute amrap of 8 squats, 8 sit-ups and 8 burpees. That means continuously doing those 3 exercises for 8 minutes, which is no mean feat.

All the pupils who took part received a Certificate of Achievement after their workout. They are now in the process of collecting their sponsorship money.

One of the teachers couldn't resist changing into his gym kit and having a go - he's the one saluting and looking a bit pink on the far left in this photo. Well done Mr West!

I'm so grateful to everyone who was involved in this - the pupils, the teachers, the CrossFit HG3 guys. It was a brilliant fun way to raise awareness about the work of Women for Women International and raise money too. Also, a special thank you to my friend, Chris Butler, a Teaching Assistant at Rossett, without whom this might never have happened.

Everest Trek Slideshow

I've at last managed to put a slideshow of photos taken on my trek onto this blog (with a lot of help from my sister - Nicola. Thank you Nic!). It's on the right-hand side under 'About me'.

Also, thank you to my fellow trekkers - some of the best photos were taken by them. 

ENJOY!

Talks and Fundraising Success in Local Schools

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to be invited to do a talk to Years 10 and 11 at Leeds Grammar School about my trek and fundraising for Women for Women International.

To be honest I generally feel I'd rather eat my right arm than talk to large groups of people. I can't project my voice far at all and I rely on lots of notes in case I lose my train of thought and my ability to find the right words. So it was no surprise when I had an anxiety dream the night before about getting stuck in the toilet and arriving back at the hall a couple of minutes late to find everyone had gone!

Thankfully my dream did not come true. I was warmly welcomed and given lots of help to set up my powerpoint presentation, and also a microphone - yeah! And the talk went really well.

Even better still, the students had a collection the following day and raised a fantastic £388.96 for Women for Women International. And even better than that - the amount has been doubled as the school paid the money in to the Big Give  - a website that is open for one week only which enables donations to be doubled!

Thank you so much to all the teachers and pupils at Leeds Grammar School who dug deep in their pockets.

With their generosity and all the tremendous support and generosity I've had from a number of other people recently I'm up to just over £9,370 and within spitting distance of my £10K fundraising target!

Watch this space...... I'm waiting for photos from Rossett School in Harrogate before I post details about the amazing sponsored Crossfit challenge that nearly 200 Year 8 pupils completed today to raise money for Women for Women International.