Barry Holden has been pleasantly surprised by how successful Haycliffe Special School's Sport Relief Day has been.

The school's director of sport said: "Collections from money raised by our triathlons has been interrupted by the Easter holidays but I am confident that the final amount will be over £1,000.

"Previous collections have only raised hundreds of pounds for things such as Children In Need but our recently-opened fitness suite has helped us."

Holden added: "All 60 children took part in the triathlon with the distance covered depending on their ability.

"This varied from one kilometre to two kilometres, right up to four kilometres and eight kilometres.

"We used the exercise bikes, the treadmill and the rowing machines with everyone having a go.

"And the fitness suite has been very successful in general with children using it in clubs.

"It has been good for school morale as a whole and fitness here is better than ever with 30-minute sessions being available at lunchtimes."

Although Sport Relief Day was on a Friday, Holden explained that it was such a difficult logistical exercise that the triathlon ended up being spread over three days, including the day before and the Monday after.

He added: "Two or three children were particularly well sponsored, and the staff contributed via what can best be described as domino cards like those in a pub."

The triathlon was not the only attraction going on at the school that day.

There were also tri-golf presentations to three schools by members of Northcliffe Golf Club.

They were Haycliffe School, Thorn Park School for the Deaf and Killinghall Primary School.

Holden explained: "Each school was awarded £1,000 by the golf club's committee on the back of tri-golf coaching and the presentation of tri-golf equipment to help the children boost their skills.