Members of Penryn-based Mile High Running Club have completed a 24-hour relay over a one mile course on Falmouth’s seafront.

The fundraising challenge, held in aid of Cancer Research UK, took place on Cliff Road between noon on Saturday and noon on Sunday, in very mixed weather conditions.

With a total club membership of only 17, it was a quite an achievement for the club to field 15 runners for the tough event, especially as five members of the team were committed to a cross country race at Trelissick Gardens, Feock, on Saturday evening. Having completed that 10k race the five returned to Falmouth to continue with the relay.

Having run through the heavy rain of Saturday afternoon, the athletes were fortunate to have much improved weather conditions throughout the night.

Witnessing the sunrise over Falmouth Bay on Sunday spurred them on to the finish on a high having clocked up a total of 170 miles.

All of the runners ran together for the final mile. The club thanked the generosity of the public who put £300 into collecting tins over the 24-hour period, £204 into a collection held at Penryn’s Asda store. They also sponsored individual runners in the relay to raise more than £2,000 for Cancer Research UK.

A Mile High spokesperson expressed thanks to everyone who supported the runners and to Jane Williams and staff of the Falmouth Hotel for allowing them to use a room  for their headquarters and providing a constant stream of hot drinks.

Thanks were also given to Barclays Bank, who made a large donation, and to Mark Trebilcock for the loan of a countdown clock.

The runners taking part, and pictured above, were: Chris Martin, David Collins, Andrew Martin, Tony Brewer, Beth Popperwell, Cassie Bolton, Rachel Martin, Ashley Blakely, John Roskruge, David Angel (not in the photo), Mark Francis and Rachel Hannah (from Barclays Bank), Lesley Heather, Ryan Moyle and Paul Jordan.