Peterborough youth football team carry out giant city relay for charity

A national campaign caught the eyes of the Hampton Robins under 12s after hearing of how charities were struggling to maintain funds. The team were raising money to support the stillbirth and neonatal deaths charity which they proudly displays on the back of their shirts and is their charity of the year.

Coming up with the idea manager Mark Ansell-Crook devised a non-contact relay route for the team to take part in the national 2.6 challenge. The team made up of 31 players, their siblings and families set out to complete their stretch running and cycling 2.6 miles each.

Adhering to social distancing, the legs of the relay spanned from Hemington to Coates with routes in Folksworth, Farcet and Hampton. Keeping team spirit up the families exchanged pictures and motivational messages over WhatsApp.

Treasurer Amy Eagling was incredibly impressed at the team’s efforts, as this was their first big-scale fundraising event.

She said: “Our fundraising is just over £1,300 which is incredible. We were hoping for a few hundred pounds! When we heard about how much charities were struggling, especially the smaller ones, we wanted to help. It was a really nice team event, even though we weren’t together.”