Harpenden pupils raise thousands of pounds for cancer sufferers

Harpenden pupils raise thousands of pounds for cancer sufferers

RAISING �4,000 in a half Iron Man event to help those fighting cancer was “physically destroying but immensely gratifying” according to one participant.

Four sixth form pupils at Sir John Lawes School in Harpenden took part in a gruelling 70.3 mile triathlon where they swam 1.2 miles, cycled 56 miles and then ran 13.1 miles to raise money for the Luton and Dunstable head and neck cancer unit.

Year 12 student Sam Hunt said: “We have never been in more pain in our lives but the sense of achievement and the fact that we did something that could benefit many people at a local level was more than enough to get us through.

“It was physically destroying but immensely gratifying in the end.”

He and fellow pupils Connor McLaughlin, Aran Tattar and Seb Murphy have raised just over �4,000 but that figure is rising as friends, family and well-wishers are still responding to their ambitious aim of collecting a total of �5,000.

Sam said the best part was finishing and spraying champagne over everyone while the worst bit was the transition, where participants got off bikes and started running as, “the first mile of the run was really punishing.”

He added that one funny moment was, “when we realised that Stoney Hills did actually have a stony hill. Cycling up it proved most difficult.”

The teenagers chose the unit because Sam has met cancer patients and seen the impact the disease has had upon their lives. To donate go to www.justgiving.com/halfironmen