The Crypt School in Gloucester is challenging every one of its students to complete a marathon next month.

The 11 to 18-year-olds won’t be expected to take on the 26.2 miles challenge in one go but instead are being invited to run, walk, swim, cycle or row the marathon distance from Friday 10^th October to Friday 17^th October.

It’s all part of the school’s Run The World Challenge which will see their 1,100 students complete 24,901 miles between them.

And there will be a grand finale because the whole school will assemble on the athletics track on the second Friday when the students will complete the final few miles together.

It’s for a good cause too because they will be raising money for Let's Talk Well, a charity that provides counselling services to children and young people in Gloucestershire aged nine to 25 and their families. 

Next month’s event comes two years after the school’s Miles for Miles charity fundraising and running event, which raised almost £20,000.

Both events involve physical activity on the part of the students, of course, and sport is a huge part of what the school is all about. The school values include kindness and responsibility, and these events showcase this.

“Sport is very important to us,” said deputy headteacher Gemma Hargraves. “We provide a whole range of sports – rugby, netball, cricket, football, athletics, badminton, basketball, cross-country, tennis and table tennis.

“In March our Year 9 boys beat Dean Close 29-24 in the EDF Cup final at Kingsholm, that was a big achievement.

“They were coached by Andy Hart who ran in the 800 metres for Great Britain in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.”

The 1^st XI cricket team, meanwhile, play a showpiece game against the MCC each year, and the senior netball team recently beat King's School in a showpiece match at Plock Court arena, while the school also has some very good rowers, padel players, England handball players and has recently set up a cheerleading team.

“We had teams compete in the ICC [International Cheerleading Coalition] British Nationals 2025 in Nottingham,” continued Hargraves. “They were novice teams and they both finished second in their age group.”

The school is very keen to promote girls’ sport and provide them with the opportunity to play as many different sports as possible.

“A key part of this vision is enabling girls to access and thrive in traditionally male-dominated sports,” said Amy Leask, the school’s first female director of sport.

“We have girls’ football teams from Year 7 across to Year 13 of all abilities, and girls’ rugby teams in Key Stage 3 and 4.

“Rugby, football and cricket form a central part of our girls’ programme and we are proud to enter our girls into ESFA competitions, rugby tournaments and this year for the first time, the prestigious Rosslyn Park 7s.”

Hargraves said that netball remains the number one sport for girls at the school but she added: “There’s so much enthusiasm for women’s sport, the Lionesses and the Red Roses have shown that.

“Nationally, figures show that there is a big drop-off of girls playing sport when they get to 14 and that’s something we want to change because sport is so good for their confidence and well-being.”

And Leask, who plays football for Forest Green Ladies, said: “Within our PE department and across the wider school community, our vision is to ensure that every student is given equal opportunities to participate, enjoy and succeed in sport.

“We are incredibly proud of our student athletes who consistently demonstrate the ability to balance their academic studies with sporting excellence.”