A recent charity triathlon challenge included an appearance from the Brownlee brothers.

Keswick Rugby Club hosted the biennial Samworth Brothers charity event over the last two weekends, attracting 280 competitors and raised funds for local Keswick charities.

About 70 teams of four competed in a round robin style event of cycling, running and canoeing.

It has been run five times over the last 10 years, and has so far raised nearly £2m for local and national causes.

Teams competed at tough, super tough and elite levels and were drawn mostly from suppliers and customers of Samworth Brothers.

This year’s event included a Keswick entry at the elite level with David Ray, Adam Macrae, Carrick Wharmby and Jonny Hume representing the Rugby Club and the wider town.

Added interest came in the event with the appearance of Samworth Brothers’ brand ambassadors and the Brownlee brothers, both Olympic medallist.

Alistair and Jonny Brownlee were joined by two GB standard triathletes to make up the team of four.

The challenge consisted of fell running, with the furthest checkpoint being on top of Skiddaw; mountain biking out to 50km with checkpoints in Whinlatter Forest amongst others and a canoeing route around Derwentwater with the furthest checkpoint being on top of Catbells.

Each activity phase lasted three hours with a 30 minute break in between. The running phase was first for the elite level teams and Keswick gave a great account of themselves finishing only 40 seconds behind the Brownlee team, having collected the same number of points.

The whole competition was tight throughout with the Brownlees eventually coming out on top with more than 1,000 points compared to Keswick’s 850 which gained a highly creditable second place and a cheque for charity for £750.

Rugby Club chairman Trevor Keough said: “The Samworth Bros event has been nearly two years in the planning and it was great to see everything coming to fruition.

“The first weekend had the bad weather to contend with but the sun appeared for the second weekend and we were able to host a great event, welcoming the Brownlee brothers to Keswick as well as a multitude of other guests.

“The number of favourable comments about the Rugby Club and the Keswick area generally was very heartening and the charitable donations made to local organisations were highly appreciated.

“The Brownlee brothers were the epitome of great champions, showing humility and great sportsmanship, even though they looked fresh enough to go out and do it all over again.

“We were all particularly impressed with our own Keswick team’s performance and it was pleasing to see the respect shown by the Brownlee brothers to the Keswick lads.”

Samworth Brothers are a Leicestershire-based food manufacturer, the owner of Cornish pasty maker Ginsters , and the largest maker of certified Melton Mowbray pork pies.

In addition, the company manufactures sandwiches and other foods for a number of major supermarket groups in the UK.