A GROUP of friends from as far afield as Australia and California took part in a 30 hour relay to raise money for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.
The group, all originally from Blackwood, each ran for one hour to complete an almost 200 mile journey last weekend.
In doing so, they have raised more than £6,000 for the Aneurin Bevan Local Health Board Charitable Fund.
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Lloyd Exton, 34, from Blackwood, said the idea came about as a number of the group had family members working in frontline NHS services.
"We have a group of 30 of us in a Whatsapp group," he said. "These are difficult times for everyone at the moment, so we came up with an idea to use our daily exercise to raise some money for the NHS.
"One of the main reasons we wanted to do it is the NHS are under a massive amount of pressure at the moment.
"A lot of the group have family members who work on the front line so we were all very keen to do something.
"So we decided to do a continuous run for an hour each.
(The group of 30 friends who ran continuously for 30 hours between them. Picture: Lloyd Exton)
"There's a couple of us who train regularly, but we are of all ages and abilities.
"As a group of friends it gives us something to concentrate on during lockdown.
"Within the group, there is one of us in Australia, one in California, and others in Manchester and Bristol, but we all come from Blackwood.
"We started at 4am on Saturday and finished on Sunday at 10am.
"We targeted 150 miles, but we smashed that and managed around 195 miles."
(Each of the runners tracked their runs on Strava, and handed over to the next runner over FaceTime. Picture: Lloyd Exton)
In total, the group have raised more than £6,000.
"It's more than we ever dreamed of," said Mr Exton. "We set out with a target of £1,000, which we thought would be difficult as times are tough financially for everyone right now.
"Some of the group have even had texts off friends saying they will be doing something in their area which is great as it's more money going to a worthy cause."
To donate, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/120in24
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