Olympic challenge for sea cadets travelling virtually from Rushden to Tokyo

These sea cadets have set themselves an Olympic challenge to walk, cycle, swim or run the distance between Rushden and Tokyo before July 23.

With today (Wednesday, April 7) being World Health Day, a group of volunteer staff and youngsters from Rushden Sea Cadets have found a way to keep themselves and their supporters active in a bid to improve their physical and mental well-being.

The Olympic Games will be taking place in Tokyo this summer after being postponed last year due to Coronavirus so the sea cadets decided to set themselves a challenge.

Together with their supporters, they have been working as a team to walk, cycle, row, swim or run from Rushden to Tokyo, with the aim of getting there before the opening ceremony on July 23.

That's a total distance of 8,900 miles, travelling virtually through 24 countries.

David Pickles, chairman of Rushden Sea Cadets and the challenge organiser, said: “The main purpose of this challenge is to motivate people to get outside and keep active.

"The pandemic is having an impact on everybody’s lives and regardless of age, this has been a challenge for many of us, including isolation from friends, being confined to our homes, or worries that family or friends might get sick, and all of this is naturally taking its toll on our well-being.”

As well as boosting their physical and mental well-being, the event is also raising sponsorship money to help fund a series of fun activities for the cadets once lockdown restrictions ease.

As with many charities, fundraising opportunities have been extremely limited over the past 12 months and the group relies on donations to be able to keep supporting local youngsters.

They’ve raised almost £500 so far, but if you’d like to help them out you can visit their JustGiving page by clicking here.

Rushden Sea Cadets is part of the national Marine Society and Sea Cadets Charity - a youth organisation that provides a wide range of fun activities to more than 15,000 youngsters between the age of 10 to 18 at almost 400 locations throughout the UK.

Sea cadets get involved in fun and challenging activities, such as sailing, windsurfing, rowing and power boating, as well as learning about aviation, cyber security, catering and many other activities – all while gaining confidence and learning skills for life.

You can learn more about Rushden Sea Cadets by visiting their webpage www.sea-cadets.org/rushden or find them on Facebook @SeaCadetsRushden or Instagram @SeaCadetsRushden.

Message from the editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive.

We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you