We spoke to the Trevelyan students who ran a charity marathon in isolation

A group of first year students isolating at Durham’s Trevelyan College have attracted wide media attention after running a marathon on their corridor.

The students completed the 26.2 miles between them on Sunday 18th October, doing so in aid of Help Musicians UK, an independent charity providing support to emerging, professional and retired musicians by way of creative development funding and the provision of health and welfare support.

The corridor of 15 students, known as Household 14, was recently plunged into isolation after two tested positive for coronavirus, leaving the remaining 13 to run and walk the indoor marathon.

Taking around six hours to complete, the task has well exceeded their initial fundraising target of £750, with over £2,300 raised for their chosen charity at the time of writing.

On their JustGiving page, the corridor united in their passion for music write: “The Arts have been devastatingly hit by COVID 19 and we wanted to do something to defend and support the people who make our world go round – we miss live music more than we can explain.”

The students of Trevelyan’s Household 14. Image provided by Constance Froment.

Explaining the idea behind the project, Charlotte Scopes, a fresher on the corridor told The Tab Durham: “We came up with the idea a week into our self isolation, so we had started going a little crazy. It started out as a joke Milo [another student in Household 14] made about running a 5k on our corridor, and then it escalated completely from there when we ran the marathon two days later.

“It started at 9am and ended around 3:30pm, taking up a quite a chunk of the day and annoying our downstairs neighbours.”

On the boost the marathon has given the corridor, Constance Froment, a first year studying music told The Tab Durham: “Morale has been significantly higher after the marathon. It was such a unique bonding experience and it felt so good having something positive to channel our energy and time into together. It was also amazing seeing how people have engaged and responded to it and we’re all so grateful for all the donations.”

Francesca Hibbit echoed this sentiment, noting: “During isolation, we’ve been upbeat and positive, running on excitement and adrenaline for the past few days! We’re slightly dreading returning to normal life.

“The marathon definitely helped with bonding, it’s been a team effort getting the Instagram going and cheering everyone on with the running. It gave us a purpose and positive thing to work for.”

Household 14 have also documented their progress on an Instagram page dedicated to their charity venture, sharing live updates throughout the Sunday event, as well as subsequent updates on their fundraising efforts.

Donations can be made to Help Musicians UK via the students’ JustGiving link here.