THE third annual running of the Finish Line Fund Virtual Relay has taken place.

The event saw 278 runners from six clubs taking part and raised £1,924 for the local based charity who provide grants to East Essex sports clubs and event organisers, runners affected by serious injury and manage a defibrillator programme.

The event simply requires 12 consecutive half hour slots to be filled by each club’s runners, with no limit on the maximum.

Runners can run anywhere on their own route with points awarded for most mileage covered and number of runners per club.

Runners from took part Benfleet Running Club, Flyers Southend, Rayleigh Road & Trail, South Woodham Runners, Leigh-on-Sea Striders, and Pitsea Running Club.

Leigh-on-Sea Striders came out on top for the second year running.

Mark Benham, the charity’s secretary, said: "We are delighted that the event was such a success once more.

"We started this event in the 2021 lockdown and have now run two events since.

"To have so many runners on the streets raising money for the charity was fantastic.

"We’d like to thank all the runners who took part and the clubs who participated to ensure the numbers were high.

"Fundraising such as this is vital for us to continue our work”.

>Anyone wishing to support Finish Line Fund can visit finishlinefund.org or email chair@finishlinefund.org