A VILLAGE running team have raised more than £8,000 for charity by tackling a 145 mile Coast to Coast challenge in just 24 hours.
The Evenwood Road Runners took part in the the challenge to raise cash for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) and the Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue.
The team, made up of 40 eager participants, started in Whitehaven on June 26 and finished in Tynemouth the next day.
The club split the course up into a relay where pairs took on between six and 11 miles each which covered landmarks such as the Hartside Pass, in Cumbria and passed through Keswick, Penrith, Hartise, Consett, Stanhope and Newcastle. They then ran the last few miles together.
Gary Atkinson, treasurer of the club, said: “We wanted to do a challenge the whole club could get involved with, something that was a bit different, quirky and fun.
“We wanted to raise money for GNAAS and Teesdale and Weardale Mountain Rescue, due to our disbelief that such a fantastic life-saving service in the North East is entirely reliant on charitable donations.”
The group meet at Evenwood Working Men’s club twice a week and run around the local area.
Mick Rhodes, a running club member and a paramedic from Bishop Auckland, said: “I work with the GNAAS team and they are a great help and a real asset to rural and isolated areas.
All money raised was split evenly between the two charities and the road runners handed GNAAS their share at Durham Tees Valley Airport recently.
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