The University of Nottingham Table Tennis Club has cracked its round-Britain charity challenge by covering 17,819km between them – raising hundreds of pounds in aid of Access Sport.

The team completed the distance in time for the start of the new term, and while there was plenty of running, cycling and swimming, there were also some inventive methods of clocking up the kilometres.

England international Josh Bennett included some water-skiing, while Ezra Slater made a contribution by unicycle.

There were 46 club members, staff, alumni and coaches involved and the largest individual contribution was by Ross Brown, who broke the 2,000km barrier. The best day saw the team cover a combined 609km.

Their efforts have so far raised more than £800 for Access Sport, a charity which works to make sport accessible to young people in deprived areas, with a strong emphasis on young disabled people. The charity has also been providing bikes to NHS workers during the pandemic.

The UoN target is £1,000 – click here to make a donation.

The organisers were April Valenzuela and Calum Morrison and April said: “Calum and I were elated when we calculated the final totals of the challenge to discover that we had completed the 17,819km we set out to cover. We could finally rest our legs after successfully finishing a challenge which at some points seemed almost impossible!

“This was truly a team effort and the club is very proud of every player, coach and member of staff who took part to improve the lives of others. This challenge has helped us to appreciate the opportunity we have to play table tennis and recognise that many other young people are not in the same position as us.

“In the final week of pedalling and pacing through the distance, reflecting on how physical activity had improved our mood and brought us together despite the lockdown certainly highlighted the impact of this fundraiser both for ourselves and our chosen charity.

“Access Sport is a phenomenal organisation working throughout our communities to support disadvantaged and disabled children to benefit from sport; we hope that we have gone some way to increase awareness of their outstanding efforts.”