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Prince William runs the Sport Relief mile at Sandhurst

7th July 2006

Prince William joined fellow cadets and officers at Sandhurst in a rallying call to the nation to run a mile in aid of the charity Sport Relief, which helps vulnerable people both in the UK and throughout the world.

The Prince led by example by joining cadets, their families and sporting heroes in a run around the grounds as a curtain-raiser to the main event on Saturday 15th July.

Speaking afterwards to Olympic hurdler Colin Jackson, William said: "I really enjoyed the day. It's awesome.
I really hope next week that everyone gets involved wherever they are."

One-and-a-half-thousand people took part in the run at the military academy where William is currently in officer training.

Officer Cadet W Wales led a starting team which included his commandant, Major General Peter Pearson, Colin Jackson and rugby star Josh Lewsey.

Before setting off, William and his group joined in enthusiastically with a warm up in front of the Old College, that saw everyone dancing along to YMCA and Don't Stop Me Now, Sport Relief's official single by pop group McFly.

They took on an added extra of an assault course complete with 8ft high walls to scale and still made it over the finish line in a respectable 14 minutes and nine seconds.

They were followed around the course by every sporting team in Sandhurst, including cyclists, a mounted polo team, hockey goalies and tennis players keeping up a continuous rally as they ran.

This was added to by a unit of Ghurkhas in full military regalia and complete with rifles, cadets towing a massive truck, families of Sandhurst staff including mothers with prams, dogs, toddlers and grandparents, and at the rear, Sandhurst's chief of staff Colonel Finlayson and academy adjutant Major Segrave on horseback.

Starters orders were given by boxing legend Sir Henry Cooper, with the assistance of a giant silver bell.

Major Pearson said that he and his officer cadets and staff were "delighted" to set an example for the nation in running the mile for Sport Relief, which raises much-needed money to help vulnerable people leading tough lives in the UK and the poorer countries of the world.

He said: "As you can see we don't do anything by halves. The mile probably wasn't going to tax many of the people here today and so we thought we would run it in various guises.

"What this shows is that everybody and anybody can do this. We've had pregnant ladies, people in wheelchairs and some people have walked and there's nothing wrong with that, everyone can do their bit for this fantastic charity."

08.07.2006: Prince William and Colin Jackson celebrate at the end of the mile. Click here for the gallery

All the participants at Sandhurst donated £2 to Sport Relief, meaning that at least £3,000 will have been raised.

As they recovered at the finish line, Prince William was told by Colin Jackson: "You were leading the pack," but replied: "I wouldn't say I was leading it. It was the Commandant - he was miles away. I couldn't keep up with him."

Jackson admitted before this race that he didn't think he would have any problem staying behind William.

"I remember the last time he ran Sport Relief in London and I was running it in Manchester, I was almost two minutes behind his time (of six minutes 10 seconds)," he said.

"At least this time we all come in together."

Sport Relief was launched in 2002, and has helped raise over £30 million pounds to tackle poverty and disadvantage throughout the world.

To join the tens of thousands of people expected to take part in the nationwide Extra Mile for Sport Relief next Saturday, visit www.sportrelief.com .

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