Burnley boyhood friends aim to raise £2,000 in virtual Lands End to John O' Groats charity run

James Hunt, Daniel Parker and Lee Bispham have already begun the Lands End to John O'Groats virtual run to raise money for Cancer Research. And just a couple of days in the pals have already raised £500 towards their £2,000 target.

The trio were all novice runners until last summer when they took up the hobby and set themselves small targets to achieve, starting with a 5km run. The target rose as the year progressed and in December the lads completed their first half marathon.

And for 33-year-old James, who started off just walking at first to try and lose some weight,it has been life changing as he has shed an incredible nine-and-a-half stone! Last summer he tipped the scales at 23-and-a-half-stone but is now down to 14 stone.

James, who is the catering manager at Simply Classic in Padiham said: "I decided to try and use the time in lockdown to lose some weight and it just went from there really.

"We wanted to continue the running into 2021 and decided to set ourselves the challenge of the virtual Lands End to John O'Groats run and raise some money for a a good cause at the same time."

The challenge is live now until New Year's Eve and involves runners completing 874 miles.

James added: "It was Daniel's idea to do this and so far it is going well but we still have a long way to go.

"You can do the runs when you want so there is no pressure at the moment."

James lives in Harle Syke with his wife Dominique and their two little girls, Halle (three) and five-month-old Paisley.

He has known Daniel and Lee since they were classmates together at the former St Theodore's RC High School for Boys in Burnley.

Daniel and Lee, who are both 32, were also pupils together at St Mary's Primary School in Burnley and they both work at Merc Aerospace in Barrowford. Daniel lives in Harle Syke with his wife Laura and their son Archie (two).

Lee lives in the Glen View area with his fiancee Lauren and they have two children, Sophia (nine) and 11-month-old Joey.

If you would like to make a donation to the trio's efforts please click HERE