Shrewsbury pupils’ lap of honour on track for teacher

Oakmeadow Primary in Bayston Hill is one of 15 schools to get funding for a running track from the Government's 'sugar tax'.

Headteacher Clara Whelan officially opened it at a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon and dedicated it to PE teacher Sam Ostermeyer.

Mr Ostermeyer has inspired hundreds of children to get fit and active while also doing a number of running challenges himself.

In April he completed the famous London Marathon while also raising nearly £15,000 for Motor Neurone Disease Association.

The 33-year-old and his two sisters were inspired to raise the money after their father, Jeff, was diagnosed with the disease in 2017.

A chunk of money was raised at Oakmeadow Primary in March when Mr Ostermeyer encouraged the pupils to take part in a mile-long run around the school field.

Incredible

Mrs Whelan said: “He is an incredible inspiration at this school and this act of fundraising really demonstrates an important value at Oakmeadow of giving and supporting others.

"Another fundamental value to us is love and this really and truly examples this. We felt that the fact the family have raised an incredible £15,000 needed a recognition and therefore we have named our new running track after Mr Ostermeyer and his family.”

The name of the running track, Ostermeyer's Way, was kept top secret until the big reveal.

Mr Ostermeyer said he was in total shock when Mrs Whelan announced its name.

"We had the running track completed over half-term and it's amazing," he said.

"Mrs Whelan asked me up to open it at this official ceremony but I wasn't sure what that actually meant. I thought she was just going to ask me to cut a ribbon.

"She was giving her speech when I realised my parents were there. I thought at that point something was going on because I hadn't even realised the sign with my name on it.

"It was quite overwhelming and emotional. It's an incredible thing for the school to do. I'm so glad my whole family are being acknowledged. My mum and dad were very proud."

And now Mr Ostermeyer has lots of plans to make use of the new running track with his pupils.

The 15 new tracks across the county have been constructed from 1500 tonnes of recycled Shropshire roads. In each case the track has been made of unwanted materials from road maintenance work being carried out close to the school.

In total, 4,000 children are set to benefit from the project, which will enable each child to walk or run a total of 285km in each academic year, at a cost of just £1.30 per pupil per year.

The idea for the tracks came about earlier this year when Shropshire Council received £226,572 from the Healthy Pupils Capital Funds funded through the ‘sugar tax’ grant.

Of the total grant, £105,000 was set aside to provide school running tracks - to help children meet the ‘Daily Mile challenge’ to walk or run a mile every day.