A group of fundraisers have competed six ultra marathons in six days in memory of an Aberdyfi couple’s daughter.

Dan Stevens, Phil Stevens, Dean Morley Stevens and Chris Prickett competed their Leg It challenge on Saturday, 21 August, which saw them run 206 miles from Conwy Castle to Cardiff Castle.

The runners’ aim was to raise as much money as possible in memory of Maddie – Dan and Kate Stevens’ daughter who was stillborn in May last year.

Dan said: “We wanted to raise awareness of stillbirth through this challenge and to do something positive in memory of our daughter Maddie, and so far over £14,000 has been raised for local hospice Ty Gobaith/Hope House and the charity 4Louis – donations are still coming in which is brilliant.

“We couldn’t have achieved our challenge without our wonderful support team- in particular our great coach Craig Garfield who came up with the running plans and came on most of the route with us- but in fact everyone on the team has been just fantastic.

“At various points along the route we had friends turning up to give encouragement and to join us for some of the way - which was really unexpected and absolutely wonderful!”

Dan added: “The thought of why we were doing this – for Maddie and to raise awareness for stillbirth kept us going through any tough moments.

“On the last day Kate and our three and half month old son Jac were able to join me on the route for some of the way which was very special.”

“However this challenge is not over yet - it is all for Maddie and we are still raising awareness for still birth and that is why we will carry on.

“The actual finish was phenomenal - coming into the lovely park by Cardiff Castle was very emotional- there were plenty of tears at the finish line where we were treated like kings!”

Kate added: “This has been a bittersweet time for me - we are doing all of this in memory of Maddie and I am so passionate that it is a positive thing to raise awareness of stillbirth and get people talking about it.

“I am overwhelmed by the wonderful people we have met along the way - strangers who found out what the boys were doing and why and donated generously, and also am so proud of what the team achieved and what the boys did this week and how they had the resilience to keep going on the challenge no matter what.

“Maddie’s legacy will carry on. We will look back on this week and remember what we’ve done and how we are helping to break the stigma surrounding stillbirth.”