Local community comes together for Blenheim Triathlon and raises £17,000
A huge thank you to all the "Malorees Team" who braved heat, blisters and Blenheim Lake in Oxfordshire on Sunday.
Sixty-one Malorees Infant & Junior School parents and children, Kensal Rise Library fundraisers and a team from Orchard House School joined forces to make up the largest group at the Blenheim Palace Triathlon, one of the UK’s biggest fundraising events, involving over 7,200 participants.
The event involved swimming, cycling and running over Sprint or Super Sprint distances.
The participants – most of whom had never attempted a Triathlon before – overcame fears about open-water swimming and taking on such a demanding unknown challenge by training over several weeks.
They were inspired on by the large crowds and very special T-shirts designed by Pen Pen, Megan and Zaki with the design team at bagsforlove.co.uk:
The 35 Malorees participants – and six children who entered the junior event – raised over £14,000 for Malorees. This means the PSFA has now reached our £35,000 fundraising target to buy eight new IT White Boards. This has been achieved in just seven months and it is only two weeks since parents also donated and raised £5,100 for Mathletics. An incredible achievement.
.JPG)
The Kensal Rise Library Team has also raised nearly £2,000 as they seek to complete the fitting of the historic renovated Library on Bathurst Gardens. Meanwhile, Orchard House School in Acton joined our team and raised £1,080 for Blue, a marine conservation charity.
Elaine Sheppard, 61 (pictured below with Mat and Leigh from Daniels Estate Agents), took part to support Kensal Rise Library and said "I'd have never thought of doing anything like this but the difference was we were all around to encourage one another. This shows what you can achieve when you get friendly community-minded people coming together for great causes, like the library, charities or for schools".
Elaine also spoke to the school children about the event (pictured below) and explained why she took part.
Local community also came together in terms of sponsorship support. A huge thank you to Swimming Nature on Wrentham Ave for providing the group with free swimming lessons, bagsoflove and the Moberly Centre.
The Library team was also led by a five-strong Daniels Estate Agents team from Chamberlayne Rd.
Next up for Malorees is the return of the children’s Duathlon in both Infant and Junior School on June 15th! And, in the evening, the ever-popular, ultra-social "Malorees Moonwalk" walking 16km from the school across Hampstead Heath, Primrose Hill (a drinks trolley will serve refreshments) and finishing at Charing Cross for the tube home.
Everyone who takes part and raises £40 will get a free Moberly day pass and every finisher goes into a draw for a free annual Moberly membership (worth £550!).
See the wonderful video of last year's duathlon event by clicking here:
Or to see photos from last year's Moonwalk click here.