HUNDREDS of residents and NHS staff joined forces for a 21 mile challenge for charity.

The Hospital Hero Hike saw 300 people walking from Colchester Hospital to Ipswich Hospital in a bid to raise funds for the department which means most to them.

The on and off-road route took some beautiful countryside roads, with East Bergholt being the halfway point.

At the end of the day, the walkers managed to raise £40,000.

Dan Bailey, who is the community fundraising manager for Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals Charity, said: “We do set ourselves an ambitious target but this exceeded our expectations definitely.

“This is the first time we have done this event and it just started off as a small idea of a walk between the two hospitals.

“I don’t think anyone realise how big the event would become.”

The hike was the brainchild of sisters Ali Beckett and Sharon Ward, who both work at Ipswich Hospital and love walking.

More than half of the fundraisers on the day were NHS staff walking side by side with residents to show support for their hospitals.

Dan added: “We offered free entry for staff and they decided to fundraise for their chosen ward department.

“We saw a really great response.

“There were two walkers who did it in just six hours and were back by 4pm which was pretty good.”

Staging the event for hundreds of people was no easy task but the resounding success of the event was all worth it.

Dan said: “It is always tricky when you try and organise 300 people to be together on the same day at the same time.

“Our route was across public footpaths so that was kind of the biggest difficulties to make sure the roads were safe.

“We hope to do it some time again in the future definitely.”