A COUPLE of friends who walked three marathons in three days have raised more than £5,000 for a new cancer centre.

David Brady and Mat French, who know each other through living in Copford, started in Lowestoft and walked back to Copford Green via Aldeburgh and Harwich.

The Copford residents have already raised more than £1,800 for the Colchester Hospital Charity's Cancer Centre Campaign, which will bring all cancer services together on one site in Turner Road.

David, 46, and Mat, 49, managed to raise more than £5,500 and presented a cheque to the Colchester Hospital Charity with Witham MP Priti Patel.

David said: "We did really well, on day one Mat's brother Jim and our friend Andy joined us, which got us off to a flying start.

"Day two was the hardest, it was 32 miles and we knew it was going to be further but didn't quite realise the distance.

"It was difficult, at mile 27 one of Mat's blisters exploded.

"We had been happy and positive the whole way but that last half day was on a shingle beach and it was tough."

On the final day about 30 people joined the pair at the Fat Cat in Colchester for the last stretch.

David said: "We had a lot of support in the end and it was definitely an experience.

"We raised loads of money and it was lovely weather, the sun shone down on us."

The duo had never taken part in a challenge of this scale before and wanted to put themselves to the test.

They wanted to raise money in memory of a friend and local postman who died from cancer recently.

To find out more visit copfordmarathons.weebly.com/