On Sunday 3rd October, SERC Public Services will participate in the Belfast City Marathon as part of a team relay. The team consists of five runners and two substitutes.

Remaining class members will volunteer at the event for Cancer Focus NI, providing advice, guidance, direction and support to members of the public. In carrying out this role, the students will demonstrate skills required for the services.

The students are studying the Leadership and Teamwork in the Public Services unit. Participation in this event will allow them to meet assessed criteria as they will be completing a team activity with one student assigned as a leader who will brief and debrief the team.

The students are also studying the Volunteering in the Public Services unit. As part of completing this, students must carry out voluntary work. They are currently working towards Millennium Volunteers and Duke of Edinburgh and have been working alongside several voluntary organisations. This fundraising activity allows them to accrue hours towards these additional qualifications which are embedded into their course.

 Physical fitness is required for all public services, with fitness tests for the roles commonly consisting of a timed run. The team will be putting themselves out of their comfort zones and have been training hard in preparation for this. You can follow their training journey by liking the Facebook Page- SERC Public Services. We hope current record holder, Joel Kositany from Kenya is ready to defend his title against SERC Public Services!

The team have decided that their chosen charity is Fight ED, a local voluntary organisation who provide support and advice to families who have a loved one suffering from an eating disorder. Recently, one of the public services teaching team lost his daughter to this illness after battling for many years. The students felt it was appropriate to raise money for this valuable cause and show support.

Fundraising commenced in 2020 but unfortunately the marathon was postponed. The students have been training throughout the summer following completion of their 1000 mile Strava challenge for RNLI last year.

On behalf of the team, I would be very grateful if you could spare a couple of minutes and donate a small amount of money towards this worthwhile cause which the team care about. Your donation will go a long way in helping local people to fight eating disorders. By donating you will also be supporting Team SERC Public Services who are representing the college at Northern Ireland's biggest sporting event whilst putting other people first.