Prisoners run a hot half marathon and raise £1000 for youth charity

THIRTY-TWO prisoners from HMP Lancaster Farms have raised over £1000 for a youth charity that works in Lancashire by running a half marathon in temperatures of 27c. Their run was in support of Prison PE Officer - Darren Leeming’s – marathon for Brathay Trust on Sunday 22 May.

As Mr Leeming explained:

I am the prison PE officer and when the lads heard that I was running a marathon they wanted to support me. We came up with the idea of a fundraising running challenge and set up an early bird running club, before work, to help them prepare.

A fortnight ago, despite extremely uncomfortable weather conditions, 32 prisoners ran an internal circuit of around 11 to 14 miles. Prison Governor Derek Harrison joined us for six of those miles which was great.

“It was also a warm day for my marathon last Sunday, an anti-clockwise lap of Lake Windermere. I finished it in 3hr 53mins, a result I was happy with given the relentless hills.

“This was all in aid of a Brathay Trust a charity that works in Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire. Each year they help turn around the lives of 7,000 youngsters a year, including the most disadvantaged.”

Brathay’s Head of Fundraising, Scott Umpleby thanked Darren Leeming and the prisoners for their support and enthusiasm and for finding a novel way to get involved with the charity’s fundraising.