Crystal Palace Triathletes junior section are running and cycling the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) as fundraising towards the club’s activities.
“The club spirit and sense of community which has been developed over the last 25 years at Crystal Palace Triathletes has been largely unaffected by the pandemic,” said Harry Horsman, committee member of Crystal Palace Triathletes.
“The biggest issue with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns has been the cancellation of our club-run race, The Crystal Palace Triathlon. This caused a very large hole in our club’s income in 2020 and because of this financial pressure, unfortunately there have had to have been changes in terms of membership fees and number of sessions we put on.
“The junior section of Crystal Place Triathletes is going to be hit especially hard in 2021 because putting on their sessions does cost more compared to the adult club.
“There has really been a coming together from everyone at the club to collectively support providing top quality training opportunities for kids for future years and we really want to reach out to children in our surrounding areas to come and enjoy the wonders of sport with us.”
To help with the club’s financial challenges and stay connected as a club, the junior section took on their Land’s End to John O’Groats challenge as a collective, with 20 juniors signing up to be part of it.
“There were discussions between junior members, their parents and the CPT Committee,” commented Horsman. “It was unanimously agreed that a challenge completed as a team would be great for club morale as well as giving the juniors further reasons to connect with each other.
“We hoped that in completing the challenge, the juniors could come to together and rally around a cause that they are passionate about. There is no doubt that the fundraising was an important aim of the Junior LEJOG Challenge and the sponsorship money raised so far by the juniors has tipped our crowdfunding page just over the £2,000 mark which is great.”
The 20 junior members who took on the challenge used the February half term to clock up the distance from one end of the British mainland to the other on foot, on their bikes and on their turbos.
“The challenge continued into the tenth and final day but, of course, they surpassed all expectations, travelling a total of 1,427km,” Horsman added.
“The feedback from those who took part has been entirely positive and everyone at Crystal Palace Triathletes is in agreement that the challenge was an all-round success and that the effort put in by the juniors was highly admirable.
“There have already been new ideas flying around about what the juniors can attempt next and have paved the way for future challenges and are rightfully proud of what they have achieved.”
You can find out more about the club and their fundraising by clicking on the button below and can check out the photos from their LEJOG challenge on Instagram.
