EIGHT hundred students at John Cabot Academy in Kingswood donned fancy dress and dodged the showers to take part in a one-mile fun run.

The event is a traditional part of the academy's annual sports day and has been a big charity fundraiser for a number of years, raising money previously for its project in Gambia among the many other worthwhile causes.

Every student in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 ran, jogged or walked the course around the streets near the academy in Woodside Road yesterday.

Last year's fun run raised more than £1,000. This year's chosen charities are the Make a Wish Foundation, CLIC Sargent, the British Heart Foundation and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Southmead Hospital.

Charlie Hodge, the academy's head of PE, said: "This is a great fun way to promote keeping fit.

"We encouraged students to do this mile in fancy dress to make it an entertaining event for our local community but this will also raise money for local charities that the students have chosen."