A RUNNING club has raised £2,000 for a hospital charity.

The Darwen Dashers running group donated the funds to local hospital charity ELHT&Me following its annual half marathon in March.

The marathon, which was sponsored by Heritage Envelopes, took runners on a circular route starting and finishing at Darwen Aldridge Community Academy.

Mark Sears, CEO of Heritage Envelopes chose to donate the funds to ELHT&Me, the official charity of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust which purchased a top of the range blood pressure machine with the generous donation.

Darwen Dasher Debbie Bevitt said: ‘’The Dashers have been organising this half marathon for three years now, and the route is based on old half marathon events which ended 20 years ago.

"The running group were keen to take on the challenge and raise funds for their local community.

“This is also my first year as race Director and I am extremely proud of the success of the race in 2018 which is testimony to the wonderful support of the club members of Darwen Dashers.”