22 October 2009
Students and staff held a rowing contest to see which College Team could get to Calais the fastest. Mark Treagust, Sports Lecturer encouraged students to come forward and try their hand at rowing using specialist rowing machines borrowed from the College Gym. The Plaza area of the College was decked out in the flags of both nations; the students decided they wanted to raise money for the charity ‘Help for Heroes’ so were tasked with raising as much money as possible from the spectators that gathered throughout the day.
Mark said “the event has gone down really well with the students and they have shown how competitive they are when competing with other schools. Over 100 students took part which is really encouraging and also helps us get our message over to them about the importance of healthy living.”
Each of the 4 rowing machines were programmed for 10,600m each and rowed until they had done the required 42,400m the best time won. For most of the day the staff team were winning but as the last school Engineering came on board their hunger to win spurred them on winning by 8 seconds. Stuart Murray Head of School for Engineering supported his students to the end and said " I am so pleased for them as they have been in lectures and classes all day so this has been great for them to release some energy, the encouragement given to all the students rowing has been fantastic and shown how important team working is"
Students from Media and creative arts provided music and compères for the event and students and staff raised a fantastic £550 for Help for Heroes.