A TEACHER from Bromsgrove will do his bit for Sport Relief by walking to and from his school in north east Birmingham – a round trip of 44 miles.
Robert McIlwraith, who is the director of PE, sport and community at Smith’s Wood Sports College will undertake the gruelling trek next Friday (March 18).
It all began two years ago when he did the journey to the school for the Sport Relief to see if he could do it. He set off at 3am and reached his destination at 9.01am.
This time, he said he is doing both the to and return journeys to raise cash for an excellent cause and to inspire the pupils at the school to be more active.
“I have never known anyone walk 44 miles in one day before so I want to see if it physically can be done and to see if I can do it.”
He will again be setting out at 3am and when he reaches Acocks Green, at about 7.30am, he will be joined by a group of young people from the school who will complete the final six miles with him.
On the day, hundreds of students at the school will also be walking or running around the school grounds to boost the Sport Relief coffers.
Robert, who has been a PE teacher for 14 years, told The Standard he was looking forward to the dawn chorus over the Lickey Hills and being joined by the pupils for the final six miles.
He said he was not relishing the 2.30am breakfast, blisters, cramp and ‘the wall’ which people get when tackling long distances.
Robert, who estimates his journey home will take eight hours, meaning he has walked almost 15 hours in 24, has set himself a fund-raising target of £1,000.
Visit https://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/richardmcilwraith to sponsor him.
