In just over 11 days members of Chirnside Chasers completed a 900 mile gruelling charity challenge that saw them run from John O’Groats to Land’s End.

The runners set off on the Chirnside Chasers End to End Run at 8am on Sunday, July 8 from the famous John O’Groats sign running as part of a relay and covered approximately 80 miles per day of running over the next 11 and a half days before arriving in Land’s End about 1pm on Thursday, July 19. The 35 participants – aged from 12 to 62 and including 14 youngsters - which included a local GP and Paramedic providing medical support along with cyclists supporting the runners on the route all to raise vital funds of around £17,000 for British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scotland and BLISS.

Stephen Ross, Event Organiser explained: "After previous running challenges of running non-stop for both 24 hours and then 48 hours as a group we wanted to do the ultimate UK running challenge, which was running the whole length of the country.

"We started planning and fundraising well over a year ago and chose two special charities for the group The British Heart Foundation (BHF) Scotland and BLISS who both do incredible work. We had incredible support from a large number of local companies whose incredible generosity meant that the challenge was possible."

The route took in Tain, Loch Ness, Loch Lomond-side, Glasgow, Penrith, Preston, Monmouth, Bristol, Tavistock, Truro and Penzance.

Stephen added: "We did the challenge as a relay with two teams covering the route. Wee had between one to four runners out at a time, running about 5 miles in the morning before doing the same in the afternoon. However on certain days because of the extreme heat this led to challenging conditions for the runners in the afternoon. Each runner was supported by at least one cyclist on the road as well as a sup-port bus.