FOUR boys braved the winter weather to take on a mini weekend triathlon to raise funds for St Leonard’s Hospice in York.

The Fab Four were Year 6 pupils from the Archbishop of York School in Bishopthorpe - James Gibson, Isaac Louth, Wil Moore and Luke Winterburn, who are all aged 10 and 11.

They have been fundraising as part of the Archie B Make A Change Challenge, a scheme initiated by Dr John Sentamu as part of his Archbishop of York Youth Trust Charity which encourages children to take an interest in their community and lend any support they can.

For the triathlon, they ran a 5km route from Bishopthorpe to York Racecourse, cycled 15km and finished with a 250m swim in the pool at Energise Leisure Centre.

They were joined in their final challenge by Year 6 teacher Sally Sutton, Year 5 teacher Amy Roberts and the school’s lollipop lady, Dawn Wright. The pupils also went into school dressed in yellow to raise more sponsorship and awareness of the hospice. They came up with the ideas and planned everything on their own in just one week.

Sally Sutton said: “I am very proud of these boys and their commitment to making a difference for people less fortunate than themselves. They inspired me to swim with them on Saturday. We’ve heard about the bathing service at the hospice and decided to swim at the ‘baths’ to enable people in our community to have a special bath at the hospice.”

Dawn Clements, director of fundraising at St Leonard’s, said: “It’s heartening to see young members of our community using their initiative in this way. We’re reliant on the fundraising efforts of the public to raise the £4.85 million it costs to run St Leonard’s Hospice each year. These young people are supporting the future of the hospice. Well done to them and a huge thank you from everyone at St Leonard’s.”

The Fab Four have so far raised about £300.