Shelford Rugby Club hit the road in fundraising relay effort

A fundraising relay marathon will be hosted by Shelford Rugby Club on Saturday, September 26.

The event will feature six teams of five, made up of a mixture of players, coaches, club members and sponsors, and will circumnavigate Cambridge, visiting numerous villages on the outskirts, starting and finishing at Shelford’s Davey Field.

The aim is to raise money for the NHS as well as fund a community outdoor exercise area at the club.

There is an on-site gym at the Davey Field but the restrictions caused by the pandemic have have had an impact.

The idea of the outdoor exercise area is to provide an open-air training facility not just for club members but the wider community through some of their programmes such as This Girl Can, and will feature artificial grass turf and crossfit-style apparatus including battle ropes and wall balls.

Louis Mann, Shelford’s commercial manager, said: “The outdoor gym was inspired partly by the fact that the pandemic has meant there’s limited space in our on-site gym, operated by Milan Fitness, but also as it will broaden our range of offerings for the local community.

“Having recently become an official supporter of This Girl Can, our aim as a club is to become a hub for all sorts of health and wellbeing programmes and the outdoor exercise area is a big part of that.

“It is something our lifelong members and the wider community will be able to use.”

He added: “We also want to help the NHS because of what they have been through and the amount of work they have done during this period.

“We would love to encourage people to get behind us it as it’s for two good causes.”

To make a donation, visit gofundme.com/f/community-outdoor-exercise-area.