Three members of a church raised more than £1,000 for its renewal fund by completing the Robin Hood Half-Marathon.

Phil Rippon, Chris Cupit and Tom Hayes  (above) trained for several months before tackling the race around the streets of Nottingham.

The money will go to the renewal project at St Andrew’s Church, Skegby.

Its vicar, the Rev Peter Chantry, (above right), had also trained to run the half-marathon, but tested positive for Covid just before the big day. However, he also completed the distance in training.

He said: “For more than a thousand years St Andrew’s has stood on the hill in Skegby as a beacon to serve local people in their time of need or celebration.

“We are now embarking on a significant refurbishment of our church over the next few years to enable it to become a venue to serve various forms of community activity and to provide support for all ages.

“As we recover from the last few years of isolation and challenge this is desperately needed and the church has an exciting programme of work to make it more accessible and a place of hospitality for all members of the local community.”

The Rev Chantry added that the first project is to go green by renewing the church’s heating system with green energy.

Tom, whose race time was one hour 43 minutes, added: “I’m thrilled to have run it so well.

“It was far more enjoyable than I expected and I want to thank everyone who sponsored me and encouraged me to take part.”

Chris and Phil, whose times were a little slower, added: “It was fabulous to be part of this amazing event and we are very proud that we’ve made such a good contribution to our church’s fundraising efforts… but we’re really glad the race is over for this year!”

Donations to the trio’s efforts can still be made at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/peter-chantry2.