Students at Sunderland’s Military Preparation College set to take part in a 12-mile log run to raise money for children in Ukraine

Students at Sunderland’s Military Preparation College are set to take part in a 12-mile log run on Wednesday, April 6, to raise money for Unicef who are helping provide aid to children in Ukraine.

The runners will set off from the Beacon of Light, head towards Roker seafront, run through Roker Park and come past Tesco on Newcastle Road before doing the route a second time.

Each MPCT college across the country has been set a target of raising £750 – with a competition being held to see what centre can raise the most.

Craig Hepburn, the instructor at Sunderland’s MPCT, feels that the charity event is engaging for the students who are also learning about what is happening in Ukraine.

He said: “The learners have been so engaged with this, every day they are asking questions about what is happening over there.

"The engagement and dedication from the learners has been outstanding all the way through, they all have sponsor forms and so far they have raised around £300.

"We’ve all seen the disasters that are happening in Ukraine at the moment so our head office thought that we have to do something to help.”

The students have already taken to the streets of Sunderland as part of their training for the challenge and have been receiving donations from members of the public.

Craig added: “The training for it has been going very well, every Wednesday is our military skills day so that is when we get out and about.

"Instead of doing military skills, we’re doing preparation for the log run and so far, the learners have conducted three sessions and covered 15 miles.

"We went out, took the charity bucket out and we were getting stopped a number of times by the public to ask what we were doing.

"The people in Sunderland were fantastic and it is really engaging for what we are doing to help in the children in Ukraine.”

If you wish to donate to the MPCT’s fundraiser, you can leave your name and area where you live by clicking here.

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