A charity has thanked friends from Dolgellau who raised over £9,000 by completing the Dyfi Ultra marathon.

Huw Ynyr Evans, Iwan Gwyn Evans, Rhys Evans, Dylan Evans, Gerwyn Thomas, Llion Lloyd and Thomas Hughes smashed their original fundraising target of £1,000 in just a few weeks to raise money for three charities – Wales Air Ambulance, MIND and British Heart Foundation. Then they upped their target to £3,000, eventually raising an incredible £9,027.

Alwyn Jones, Wales Air Ambulance’s Community Fundraising coordinator, said: “A huge congratulations to the team on raising an incredible £9,027, which will be split between three important charities.

“The ‘magnificent seven’ took on a gruelling physical challenge that many people would shy away from.

“Their determination to complete the challenge is evident and the donations reflect what a hard task they took on.

“Also, a huge thank you to the family and friends that went along on the day to support the team and diolch yn fawr to everyone who donated to the fundraiser.”

The Dyfi Ultra, in June, was a 50-mile ultra-marathon which included a total height gain of 3,000 metres as runners go along coast, trail, mountain, river and forest in South Snowdonia, taking in a total of 15 peaks.

Tom Hughes, said: “It was a massive effort to complete a ridiculous challenge.

“A little bit of grit and determination on our part but we owe a lot to our family and friends. We couldn’t have done it without support from them.

“A massive thank you to everyone that’s donated as well. It’s had a huge impact on our determination to complete the race.”

Reflecting on why the Wales Air Ambulance was one of their chosen charities, Iwan said: “Having the Wales Air Ambulance as one of our charities is a no-brainer as we depend quite a lot on this service. We live in a remote, rural area that carries with it its own unique challenges regarding infrastructure and health care, where normal conventional transport won’t cut the mustard.

“To put it simply, all of us have either used this service or known someone who has benefited, so we were happy to support it in return. “Looking back on it now, we were obviously proud of ourselves for managing to finish the race, but I think the happiest memory I have of this whole experience was being able to witness the generosity and kindness of our local community and others in helping us reach this total.

“We were really blown away by people’s support, both on the day and afterwards as well.

“If anyone of them are reading this, thank you so very much, we couldn’t have done this without you. And to you chaps in the air ambulance, thank you as well for all the essential work that you do. Iechyd Da!”

There are several ways the public can support the air ambulance.

“These include online donations, signing up to the charity’s lottery, sending a £5 text-message donation by texting the word HELI to 70711, or coming up innovative ways to fundraise at home.