All in a Good Cause - Oxford Fun Run

On the 9th May, as part of the LSI Social Programme, 35 students and a handful of staff jumped on a coach to Oxford to take part in the Oxford Rotary Club annual fun run. It was our first year taking part in the race, and we joined several other language schools from across the country in a 5km run around Oxford University Parks.

It was a great opportunity for our students to do something a little different, meet people from other language schools, but more importantly, to raise money for our chosen charity, the British Red Cross emergency aid appeal. The organisation has been providing much-needed supplies to the survivors of the Nepal earthquake disaster, including food and emergency shelter. The Red Cross volunteers are also searching for survivors through the rubble of the collapsed buildings and have recently built a blood bank in Kathmandu to provide blood to help injured survivors.

We were very impressed with all our students who took part, and although we didn’t win any trophies, everyone had such a great time and tried their best. We’d like to say a massive well done to David Losua, one of our Cambridge students from Spain, who came 8^th overall, and also to Nadja Patriarca, our fastest female! Even those who weren’t keen at running still walked the 5km route and cheered on the other students who were running the course. Everyone wore LSI T-shirts in the school’s signature blue, which were specially produced for the event. The students liked them so much that we will now be selling them in school (available from Belle, our Social Programme Organiser)!

After the award ceremony, we all headed down to Oxford English Centre for a post race BBQ with all the other competitors. We even managed to enjoy some rare English sunshine whilst we enjoyed sausage baps and drinks in the garden! Our students then spent the afternoon exploring the historic streets and buildings of central Oxford before heading back to Portsmouth on the coach.

 If you’d like to donate to our appeal, or buy a t-shirt, see Belle in room 305.

For more information on the event, please visit the Oxford fun run website:

http://www.oxfordfunrun.org.uk/

Belle