Two colleagues from North East property and energy firm The Banks Group have raised more than £1,300 for The Samaritans after taking part in a Lake District ultra-marathon.
Lewis Stokes and George Oldroyd competed in the Cumbrian Way Ultra, which gives competitors 27 hours to complete a 74 mile course running from Ulverston to Carlisle Castle.
The race route takes in some of the area’s most iconic locations, including Conniston Water, Borrowdale, Derwent Water, the Dungeon Ghyll waterfall and High Pike, and includes over 10,000 feet of climbing.
Despite an existing knee injury flaring up within the first four miles, Lewis carried on for 12 hours until being forced by the injury to withdraw at the 50 mile mark, while George then went on to complete the race in just under 24 hours.
The pair have so far raised £1,310 in sponsorship, with more expected to follow.
Employees at the Durham-headquartered, family-owned firm chose to support The Samaritans right through 2019, and have so far raised around £6,000 by undertaking a range of fundraising activities, including workplace lunches, dress down days, raffles and cake bakes.
The Samaritans provides a safe place for people to talk at any time about whatever’s getting to them and reaches more than 500,000 people every year via its free 116 123 phone number, its free jo@samaritans.org email service and via outreach work in railway stations, schools, hospitals and businesses.
The organisation has over 200 branches across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, including eight across Northern England, recruited and trained 4,000 new branch volunteers during 2017 and has more than 20,000 people volunteers in total.
Sara Ellis, a member of The Banks Group’s charity fundraising committee, says: “Lewis and George took on a challenge that most of us couldn’t dream of doing, and we’re really proud of how well they both did.
“The Samaritans’ support often makes a life-saving difference in the very darkest moments of people’s lives and we’re proud to be helping such a highly-regarded and important organisation carry out its invaluable work.”
To support Lewis and George’s fundraising efforts for The Samaritans, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/george-oldroyd1
For more information on the work of and help available from The Samaritans, please visit www.samaritans.org.uk or follow @samaritans on Twitter.