If the Coast to Coast wasn't hard enough, Safe Families for Children are adding their own spin to the challenge, aiming to complete the 107 mile journey in under 24 hours.

A team of 10 staff from the charity will be making their way from Whitehaven harbour to their Newcastle office in shifts, setting off at 7am tomorrow, and aiming to complete the task by just before 7am on Sunday.

Each member will be cycling, walking or running their section of the route, depending on their ability, and they're all hoping the rain chooses to stay away while they're doing so.

Although it will be hard work, the staff are happy to put in the effort if it means they raise money for Safe Families for Children – a charity that offers support and care for families who are struggling, and helping to prevent the need for children to be placed in foster homes.

Safe Families opened their Whitehaven branch in October 2018, and have a team of 85 volunteers who have helped more than 25 families in the area with their home life.

And as all money raised from the Coast to Coast in under 24 hours challenge will be given straight to the charity, the team can't wait to get moving and raise as much as they can for families in need.

"We thought we'd be nervous, but we're all just really excited to be getting involved and taking part," Safe Families' Stephanie Maffia said. "Even if we don't raise our target of £4,000, we'll still be proud and really pleased with what we've done."

The first team member to kick off the journey will cycle the 80km from Whitehaven harbour to Carlisle Castle, where Stephanie will meet her and continue on to Hadrian's Wall, running the 20km portion of the route.

She explained: "We're all doing things we tend to enjoy, but we definitely aren't experts.

"We've been for walks, runs and cycles at the weekends as a team, but none of us have done anything like this before!"

The Safe Families for Children team have already raised £1,500 for the charity, and are accepting donations of any size on their JustGiving page to help them reach their £4,000 target. To leave a word of encouragement and a token of support, visit

www.justgiving.com/safefamiliesteam

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