SPORT Relief 2014 put West Dorset legs through their paces – and raised thousands towards the national total.

The Bridport Mile took place at St Mary’s School and offered runners of all ages the chance to take part in a fun event – in sports gear or fancy dress.

Organised by St Mary’s School and Bridport Runners, participants could pound a one, three or six mile course.

Part of a nationwide series of more than over 1,000 sporting events taking place last weekend, the aim was to raise money “to help people living incredibly tough lives, both at home in the UK and across the world,” according to UK charity Comic Relief.

Brian Shelley, Bridport Runners’ chairman said: “It was a great turnout at the Sports Relief Mile last Sunday, about the same as two years ago, when roughly 100 runners joined.

“The youngest competitor in the field was just nine weeks old, crossing the line being pushed in her pram. The Bridport Mile raised around £370 on the day. As the race was purely for fun and not for competition, there are no winners to be declared.”

Pedal-power was the order of the day for Liz Courtice, one of the owners of Bridport’s Autobitz store.

She spent six hours cycling, on a static machine on the pavement in East Street, joined for the final hour and a half by Kay Joy.

Her efforts raised £465.

Bridport Primary School held its Sport Relief Mile last Friday.

The pitch opposite the school was measured and marked out by the Wednesday after-school Maths group, who used their learnt strategies to find that five times round the field was exactly a mile. All the year groups took part as well as teachers and teaching assistants. Some of the pupils and adults went the extra mile and ran up to five miles.

At Burton Bradstock School eight children from Years 5 and 6, who were recently trained as Bronze Ambassadors for Sport at the Leadership Academy in Redlands in Weymouth, were set the task to organise the ‘Run a Mile’ sponsored event where the children had to run 11 laps of the school playground and raised more than £1,200.

Headteacher Mrs Claire Staple said: “I am proud of the Bronze Ambassadors. They have displayed brilliant leadership qualities and have been inspirational to the rest of the school.”

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