Participants have each chosen a level of The £10k Challenge that suits them, whether this be to push themselves physically, or to do something weird and wonderful with a group of friends.
The challenge will fundraise to support mental health initiatives at the University and the three main levels are a 10k run, doing 10,000 steps a day every day, or running 10 minutes every day. Some participants have opted for a “wildcard” challenge.
Professor Steve Rothberg, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research, will run with his fellow Pro Vice-Chancellors in a 100k relay over the ten-day period. Championing the challenge, Professor Rothberg said:
“Our own excellent Loughborough research tells us how important exercise is for good mental health and wellbeing and that’s never been more important than it is now in the pandemic. So what better way could there be for Loughborough to fundraise for student mental health support than through an exercise challenge?”
Several staff members have opted for wildcards. Marketing Coordinator, Rachel Cassell, is taking to the streets in her local area to pick litter. Dr Diganta Das, a member of staff in Chemical Engineering, is playing the classical Tabla, an Indian percussion instrument, for an hour every day.
Some of the staff participating have formed teams. The Academic Leadership Team are taking on a huge range of challenges, combining walking, running, and cycling over the ten days. The Associate Deans for Research have also formed Team ADR Plus and have already raised over £500. The ADR team is completing a range of challenges that will add up to more than 1,000km between them.
The Fitness Fundraisers and the Engagement Team are both in groups ready to take on their respective challenges.
With over 160 participants getting involved, we can’t name everyone, but you can head to Just Giving to see who is taking part. Our staff participants are:
- Professor Robert Allison
- Alison Barlow
- Professor Tracy Bhamra
- Dr Richard Bibb
- Hannah Billington
- Hayley Boereboom
- Kate Broadhurst
- Professor Mike Caine
- Rachel Cassell
- Alan Chaplin
- Jadeen Christie
- Dr Steven Christie
- Paul Conway
- Malcolm Cook
- Professor Jeremy Coupland
- Professor Andrew Dainty
- Diganta Das
- Professor Cees de Bont
- Soph Dinnie
- Professor Claudia Eberlein
- Professor Tony Edwards
- Helen Emmet
- Zohreh Fallah
- Beatrice Firth
- Sarah Fisher
- Andrew Flather
- Fiona Fowkes
- Dr Borja Garcia Garcia
- Sadie Gration
- Dr Victoria Haines
- Laura Hutchinson
- Adèle MacKinlay
- Dawn Matthews
- Dr Luciano Ost
- Dr Gary Page
- Elisabeth Payne
- Francesca Pearce
- Dr Elizabeth Peel
- Professor M N Ravishankar
- Dr Stephen Rice
- Professor Chris Rielly
- Professor Stewart Robinson
- Professor Steve Rothberg
- Miranda Routledge
- Professor Sergey Saveliev
- Janet Short
- Dr Darren Smith
- Dr David Stensel
- Andy Stephens
- Professor Elizabeth Stokoe
- Professor Jo Tacchi
- Rachel Third
- Professor Rachel Thomson
- Alastair Thorne
- Dr Keith Tolfrey
- Erin Williams
- Katie Wilson
Tracking their challenges using the popular running and cycling app, Strava, participants and donors will be able to follow the progress of the challenge via its integration with Just Giving.
Funds raised will go to the Mental Health Appeal, launched in 2020 to raise money to support the services on offer to students at Loughborough during these difficult times. Participants have already been fundraising, and over £8,000 has been raised through the challenge so far.
If you would like to find out more, track the participants, or donate, check out the Just Giving page.
We wish them the best of luck.