A ROUND-the-clock marathon effort by three men from the Isle of Wight raised a whopping £4,000 in sponsorship for The Samaritans.

Harry Elsom, Salar Bettum and Tom Blowers, from the Cowes area, ran a 24-hour relay — the aim being to do 250km or more than 150 miles, or about six marathons in total.

Isle of Wight County Press:

The trio are former Ryde School students who play rugby for the Isle of Wight Rugby Football Club.

Harry said: “We knew it would be a challenge, but we were not quite sure how tough it would be as none of us had ever run anything of that distance before.

“With only two weeks preparation for it, we knew we would be fighting against the odds.

Thanks to everyone who donated to us. We aimed for £1,000 to begin with, so to reach £4,000 is fantastic.”

The Samaritans’ vision is that fewer people die by suicide.

Every 90 minutes, someone in the UK or Ireland dies by suicide and, every six seconds, somebody contacts Samaritans for help.