Students from the University of Birmingham medical school have been competing against each other to raise money for various NHS charities by seeing who can run, walk and cycle the most miles.
The competition, organised by the Medical School sports clubs, is made up of six different sports clubs all competing to log the furthest distance.
These clubs are the men’s & women’s football and rugby teams, as well as the Hockey and Netball teams, all consisting of students from the medical school.
James Jobling, the Fundraising Representative for the Birmingham Medical School Football Club said that the competition started as a way of replacing sport, but turned into a friendly competition between the different clubs.
Speaking about how he’s running the competition, the fifth year medical student said:
“we’ve had to trust the people that we’re working with, the official rules of the competition are that you’re only allowed one run a day, as well as constantly abiding by social distancing laws, its become very competitive between us recently, but what we’re doing is important”
The medical students have all been running for different reasons, but are all keen to raise money. Cameron Kendall, a fourth year student, said:
“I’ve surprised myself with how much running I’ve been able to do, we’re doing it to raise as much money as possible for NHS charities together which is something that is obviously very close for all of us, it’s also brought the whole club closer together, even though we are far apart from each other”
Mr Jobling, speaking last night, said that the football and hockey teams had raised over £4,000 for NHS charities, something which he said was crucial for the lives of frontline staff:
“we are seeing whats happening on the frontline, the donations really are making a big diffrerence to the lives of NHS staff and patients, it greatly improves staff morale”
The competition is running until Monday 11th May, with all the clubs competing as to who can run the most miles and raise the most money. You can donate to the football club’s fundraising page here.
