Five friends from Harlech and the surrounding area have taken part in their very own ultra marathon, covering a distance of 55 miles and raising around £1,500 for charity.

The marathon, which they named The Three Castles One Day Ultra Marathon, was organised to raise money for Ty Gobaith.

The one-off event was organised by Barmouth paramedic Martin Perch with the help of his four fellow runners and a few friends.

The five who took part in the running challenge were Martin Perch (Ynys, Harlech), Martin Howie (Harlech), Steven Evans (Harlech), Zach Flint (Bedfordshire) and Mike Jones.

The challenge started off from Conwy Castle at 4.45am on Saturday, 5 October, with the runners making their way along the North Wales Path and also the back roads of the region.

From Caernarfon Castle they ran along the Lon Eifion cycle path to Bryncir and then straight down to Harlech along roads and paths in the mountains, giving them a good cross-section of terrain that really tested the runners.

And as if the 55-mile ultra marathon was not enough on its own, the group decided to give themselves an extra challenge by running or walking up the highest hill in the world in Harlech.

The event was a great success, with a completed moving time of 10 hours and 20 minutes.

To mark the end of the marathon, a charity night took place at the Ty Mawr Hotel at Llanbedr where the runners and their supporters who helped them along the way could celebrate and relax with a disco and a couple of drinks.

Martin Perch said: “We would like to thank anybody and everybody who has assisted and helped in any way to make our Three Castles One Day Ultra Marathon such a great success.

“A big thanks goes to the four-person crew (Jeanine, Huw, Sion and Elfyn) who accompanied us in the support vehicle on the day, and of course to all the kind and generous people who have kindly sponsored and donated money.

“To date we have raised around £1,500 for Ty Gobaith and if anybody would like to donate they can do so online by visiting our JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/­charity3castlesultra.”