MORE than 50 students and teachers from Budehaven School took part in a 24-hour ‘canoe-athon’ recently on the town canal to raise money for Friends of Budehaven School.

Event organiser Simon Hammond, who runs Shoreline Extreme Sports in the town, devised a 2.5-mile route from Rodds Bridge to Bude Sea Locks with the canoeists asked to try and complete the distance inside their one-hour shifts although they continued for the whole hour, adding up more miles to the tally.

Starting at midday on Thursday, March 29, the canoe-athon went on for 24 hours with the total mileage covered being 73.75.

People were asked to donate £1 and guess the distance with the closest winning £100.

However there was no clear winner with two people being within 0.75 of the correct answer. So they shared the prize.

Simon says that despite the cold the event, which raised £258, went to plan.

He said: “It went brilliantly, even better than we thought, although going through the night wrecks you.

“We had people doing one-hour shifts and a crew who oversaw it and there was a really good turnout from the Friends of Budehaven with a nice mixture of students and staff.

“What also helped was the weather. Although it was freezing cold, it was a special atmosphere and because it was so light because of the full moon, no torches were needed.

“It was great together to work with Budehaven to do some outdoor adventure stuff and it was a nice combination of skills. I’d like to thank them and in particular Claire Meaker from the committee and everyone who donated or took part.

“We hope to do something similar again next year.”