Eccles Sixth Form College students take on a mammoth journey for National Fitness Day

26 September 2019

Over a hundred students at Eccles Sixth Form College came together to cycle the length of the UK. Taking on an incredible 950 mile distance, staff and students gathered in the gym to participate in a relay style race on cycling, rowing and treadmill machines. Richard Lee, a sports teacher at Eccles Sixth Form College explained the idea behind the day: “When this opportunity came up to celebrate National Fitness Day, we thought let’s get as many students from across the college in this place.

“Our aim was to get as many people as possible active, not just sports students.”

Sport teacher Richard Lee with two students who took part in the event.

This was not the first time that Eccles Sixth Form College had seen an event of similar nature. Richard elaborated: “A year and a half ago we did a charity event for sport relief where we said we’d cycle from here to Narbonne (France) our twin town.” During their previous challenge, students managed to cycle all the way to Barcelona, smashing their original goal by around 200 miles. This year staff and students decided to push themselves further, embarking on the distance between the furthest two points of the UK. Richard said: “We decided to go from John o’ Groats To Lands End. We went that way around because it’s downhill!” Explaining the aims of the event, Richard added: “It’s really just to inspire people to get in the gym, get active, and to do something. In total we’ve had over 130 students through and about 20 staff.” One of the many students taking part was animal care student, Ian Vinter. With no previous cycling experience under his belt, Ian had already cycled 15 miles in the first few hours of the event.   Ian said: “I haven’t cycled such a distance before but I’m really wanting to push myself to the limits.”

Animal care student Ian 

After a hard few hours on the cycling machines, Ian admitted: “I’m tired and my hands are sore. But at the end of the day we’ve all done well.   “Even when I felt like I wanted to give up, I just got back in there and kept pushing through.” Despite already cycling 15 miles, Ian claimed he was still ready to do more. He said: “I know I haven’t reached my limit yet. I’m still going to push myself.” After starting at 6am, a total of 145 students and 20 staff managed to complete the distance of 952 miles by 4pm. If you would like to find out more about studying at Eccles Sixth Form College, contact them on 0161 631 5000 or by emailing enquiries@salfordcc.ac.uk