We recently marked the grand finale of the Selby Community Challenge, with 27 students crossing the finish line at Selby High School. Although the weather took a turn for the worst with both rain and hail, it didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and we were able to end the challenge on a high.

Now that the challenge has been completed, it’s great to look back and reflect on what we have achieved as a community. More than 1000 people in the area took part in the challenge, either by walking, running and cycling and in all weathers - come rain, snow or sun. Word of the challenge also spread beyond the local community, with people from Saudi Arabia, Australia and the US and Canada taking part. Former Premier League goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, ex Rugby League player Gareth Ellis and current Rugby League player Emily Rudge also caught wind of the initiative on social media and signed up to take part.

Together, we covered 38,000 miles around the world, ticking off each one of the seven world wonders on our journey. This is an amazing achievement by all and one which we managed to complete in under two months – with the challenge starting shortly after the beginning of the third national lockdown.

Looking at the bigger picture, it has done so much good for people’s mental and physical wellbeing during these difficult times. The challenge was set up by Selby High – and supported by Selby College and Brayton Primary School - to encourage people to get outside and get moving during lockdown. But I hope that through this, we were able to inspire a lot of people to keep up with their fitness after lockdown. The benefits of physical activity are not only great for our physical health but our mental health and wellbeing too and I would encourage everyone to get active wherever possible.

At Selby College, we have had lots of positive feedback from our students who took part in the challenge and contributed to the overall mileage. The College also recently took part in the Association of College’s Lunar Challenge, which saw colleges across the UK collectively travel 238,855 miles to the moon virtually. Our students and staff certainly got stuck in, contributing just under 1000 (940) of the total miles in under a month.

Overall, this has been an extremely positive initiative to bring everyone in the community together, albeit virtually, and to get everyone outdoors and active. A big thank you goes to Selby High, who came up with the idea and organised the challenge and invited the College and Brayton Primary to help with the initiative. And a massive well done to everyone who took part.