Melton runners complete five back-to-back Parkruns to highlight slavery cause

They ran five consecutive 5km runs along the course of the Parkrun, which is held every week, in an event organised by Andrew Wrath, who wanted to raise awareness and funds for the Hope for Justice charity.

The group set off on the first 5km run at 6am and completed the others, in different directions, at 6.45am, 7.30am and 8.15am before taking part in the regular Parkrun at 9am, which was completed by 274 people.

Andrew organised a cake stall on the day which raised nearly £400 for the cause and he plans to raise much more by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro next month.

He said: “To have 100 people at the start line at 6am for the first run far exceeded my expectations.

“A lot of those people completed all five runs which is a great achievement and some of them travelled from as far as Daventry, Newark and Market Harborough to be involved.

“Some people were using it as a training event for the Equinox 24-Hour run at Belvoir Castle later this month.”

Back in April, Andrew raised £5,000 for the charity by completing a remarkable series of 10km runs in five different locations across western Europe, finishing in his home town, Melton.

The 50-year-old ran 576 miles in 11-and-a-half hours, also visiting Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London, travelling on trains in between.

He has never climbed a mountain before but is preparing for the ascent of Kilimanjaro, which at nearly 6,000m is one of the world’s highest peaks.

Andrew added: “I am preparing as much as I can but it is difficult to prepare for the altitude which stops most people who don’t reach the summit.

“I will be with 25 people from all over the world so we should be able to raise awareness of the very important Hope for Justice cause.”

Go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andrewwrath-kilimanjaro to sponsor Andrew for his Kilimanjaro challenge.