Members of Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group will become superheroes over the next few weeks as they attempt to complete the Marvel sponsored Superhero Series Challenge

Thanks to funding from Zurich Community Trust eight young people will be taking part in the virtual event which aims to encourage disabled people to join in sporting events. They’ll be running, swimming, rowing and anything else they can think of to cover the distance.

All entrants are put into one of several celebrity-led teams who compete against each other to be the first to hit a target. All activities logged during the four-week event, which started on July 17 and will run until August 15, go towards a target of 55,000 kilometres per team.

Lane, 22, from Upper Stratton, Oliver, 24, from Cirencester, Callum, 21, Holly, Sophie, Andrew, Myles and Alex - who is the youngest person taking part at, two years old - make up the team.

Their celebrity captain is Gold medal-winning Paralympian, canoeist Anne Usher and their Marvel superhero is Captain America

“I can do all my favourite sports and I am able to raise lots of money at the same time,” said Lane, who has been playing tennis and cricket as part of the challenge so far,

“My favourite superhero is Superman because he is fast. I was James Bond was a superhero as he would definitely be my favourite.”

“I am loving being a superhero and I am doing lots at the gym to get my kilometres in,” said Oliver. “I am rowing, jogging and cycling as well as walking with my family.”

Callum has been excited to spend time with his family and keep up his good habits of exercise and healthy eating. Holly will be swimming and doing extra walking with her mum, dad and dog Meg.

Alex only started walking independently in January at the age of 26 months due to moderate hypotonia. Since then he’s gone from strength to strength with his new ability.

The group is working with his parents to help him with this challenge. He will be attempting to cover a distance of ten miles, which would be quite the feat for someone of his age!

Kim West, who chairs Swindon Down’s Syndrome Group, has her daughter Sophie taking part.

She said: “Sophie loves spending time with her friends but finds exercise a little bit difficult because she also has chronic fatigue syndrome/ME.

“However, when I showed her our superhero t-shirt and explained what she needed to do, she just couldn’t wait and run upstairs and put on her t-shirt and used a dress to make a cape out of it, to become her own superhero.

“I haven’t seen her get excited about anything for a long time,” she added.

The team, who have called themselves The Incredible T21s were aiming to raise £500 which will go towards trips and outings for Swindon Down Syndrome Group’s families but they’ve already smashed their target at just over half way through with £825 raised so far!

To support the group visit the Just Giving page at justgiving.com/fundraising/sdsgt21

You can find out more about the Superhero Series on their website here https://superheroseries.co.uk/