A RACE to Paris sounds like a nice way to get fit - even if all happens in Windsor.

Pupils at The Windsor Boys School on Saturday were happy to keep their Parisian challenge within the ground of the Royal Windsor Shopping centre - as they raised money for the Alexander Devine Children's Hospice Service.

The 30 boys - who were aged between 13 and 18 - used their rowing machine set up in the shopping centre to cover the same mileage that would have taken them from London to Paris if they had been in a real boat, more than 500k.

Pupils at the school are no strangers to rowing in front of Windsor shoppers as it was the 10th time they had done this for good causes.

This time they were raising money for the Alexander Devine charity that recently opened its children's hospice in Maidenhead - as well as for the school boat house.

Their last row raised £3,000. They hope this year's final total will hit £5,000.

George Torpey, a community fundraiser for Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service, said: "During the last hour it turned into a relay with the boys forming into teams and doing 20 strokes each at a time in a bid to see who who could finish the last 8k into 'Paris' first."

There to encourage them were the Director of Rowing at the Boys School Mark Wilkinson and Chris Morrell MBE,who spent a legendary tenure as rowing coach at the school for 40 years.