A GROUP has completed Three Peaks Challenge in less than 24 hours for charity.

Richard Hind, his son Charlie and friend James Hare, all from Haltwhistle, have raised £2,245 by completing the three peaks, Ben Nevis, Snowdon, and Scafell Pike under 24 hours for Alzheimere's Society.

The trio travelled to Ben Nevis on June 30 but did not start the challenge on July 1 at 6am and finished the next day.

The men were also joined by friends Ken Williamson and Shay Dickinson who joined in at the last peak - Snowdon.

Richard could only do one peak due to an injurgy but spoke about the challenge.

Hexham Courant:

He said,"I'm so proud of Charlie and James of doing the 3 peaks in 18 hours 32 minutes.

"That is some achievement!

"I would also like to thank Ken Williamson Shay Dickinson for coming along and doing the last peak Snowden.

"We were never going to keep up with the boys so we just went at our own pace after a hour in I was thinking what the hell are we doing, it was turning dark and we had another hour of climbing to go.

"Then when we got to the top 18 mph winds, zero visibility and freezing temperatures the thought of another two hours back down the mountain in pitch black with just a head torch each, but the support and encouragement from each other was something I will never forget and for Shay to celebrate his 19th birthday there was amazing.

But we made the choice to carry on, there is a lot of people in this world who doesn’t get a choice of what’s thrown at them, so we are the lucky ones. After two days of no sleep and nearly a thousand miles of driving.

"Would I do this again? the answer is yes!

"I would like to thank everyone that has donated to this amazing charity.

" We raised double the amount of what we expected and we are glad to hopefully help change some people’s lives."