In a bid to raise funds for the Recovery Games, a seven strong team from Aspire are celebrating pushing themselves to the limit of human endurance to complete Equinox24 – an epic 24-hour cross-country relay race that separates the die-hards from the fun-runners.

Their weekend challenge was to notch up 100 miles of non-stop running, with team members taking it in turns to run six-mile laps across the undulating countryside around Leicestershire’s Belvoir Castle before passing an electronic baton on to the next colleague.

By race end the Aspire Allstars had blown away the century target, clocking up a staggering 118 miles as they proudly came away with their commemorative medals and t-shirts.

The team of Jim Fletcher, Louise Henry, Laura Hill, Kaye Huntington, Paul Wade, Maggie Walley and Rebecca Yorke are members of the Aspire running team.

Veteran runner Jim, 65, has coached the team said: “It was blisteringly hot during the day, which slowed us down a bit, and then we had to don head-torches to keep running through the night, which wasn’t easy as the ground was very uneven.

“We completed 19 10k laps in total, that’s an average of three each, with no sleep. The atmosphere in the tented village where we were based was electric and as the sun rose on the Sunday morning it was a magnificent view that lifted us and got the adrenaline flowing again.

“At the end we were all very emotional. It was a superb team effort, everybody working for each-other and we were buzzing as we came home, in spite of the stiffness, aches and pains.

“We’ve already signed up for next year’s event and our aim is to beat this year’s performance.”