Wigan rugby team raising money for a trip to Australia

Members of a local junior rugby league team have completed a 30 mile bike ride to raise money for a trip to Australia.

St Jude’s under 11s rode from the home of the club to Scarisbrick Marina, and back again.

Players, coaches and parents all took part to help achieve the funds, with £35,000 collected so far out of their £45,000 target.

Team manager Alison Woolfenden said: “Originally we were meant to be going this summer but we decided to postpone it, just to make sure everything is out the way and we can make the journey.

“A lot of children are looking at careers in rugby and having the experience of playing over in Australia is once in a lifetime at their age.

“This will also be the first time St Judes has done this.

“We are hoping the money will pay for flights and accommodation for each child in the team to make it more accessible for the families because it is on the other side of the world.

“We’ve done plenty of things, but with Covid we had to rethink, so we decided a bike ride was the safest option.”

The club hopes the team will be able to go on the trip in 2023, when they would’ve moved up to the under 13s.

Head coach, Martin Fisher formerly played for the Great Britain Masters and has used his contacts in Australia to set up some matches for the

club.

Throughout their 16 days abroad, the team will also spend the time doing team bonding activities.