First Hayathlon is hailed a big success

8:00am Sunday 5th October 2008

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MORE than 70 competitors went the extra mile in a Hay-on-Wye charity race by running and rowing their way to the finish line.

The first ever Greeneye Challenge Hayathlon saw teams of two from across the UK run up to 11 miles before paddling Canadian canoes from Glasbury back to Hay to raise money for Worcester charity Farmers Overseas Action Group.

Jaime Blakely-Glover, who helped arrange the event, was delighted with the turnout.

He said: “We think we have raised in the region of £7,000 to £8,000, but we have to wait for people to finalise their own sponsorship as well.”

The money will mainly go to the Kamurasi Primary School in Masindi, Uganda, which already has a £25,000 boarding house and special skills centre for its disabled pupils after Jaime and his friends Roland Ballard, James Maysey-Thompson and Alex Letts organised a cross-Channel swim in 2006.

The men all run the charity’s London office but chose Hay because Alex’s family live nearby.