A PAIR of vets took on the mammoth task of running five marathons in five days in the aid of three good causes.

Jennifer Hutchison and Cecilia Corbett work for Farm Gate Vets, which has practices in Kendal, Sedbergh and Lancaster.

Wanting to challenge themselves and raise money for charity, the duo decided to pick five routes that took in the four corners of the Farm Gate Vets practice area.

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"Neither of us had done a marathon before," Jennifer, who lives in Holme and practises in Kendal, said. "So day one was a first!"

The 134-mile challenge covered parts of Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire and more than 3,000 metres of ascent. Some days, the pair were running more than the marathon distance.

Although Jennifer is a fell runner and Cecilia a rugby player, the duo were not used to tackling such long distances.

"Mentally I think we stayed positive for quite a bit of it," Jennifer said. "But by the time we got to third or fourth day it was starting to hurt.

"We seemed to have our individual peaks and troughs at different times, which was good."

Cecilia, who is largely based at the Lancaster practice, added that they are both 'pretty stubborn' so there was never any question of them not finishing.

"It was good," Cecilia, who lives in Cockerham, said. "It was sort of easy to get through because we raised so much and had so many people supporting us."

With the support from their families, each other and sweets and chocolate bars to keep them going, the pair managed to successfully complete all five routes.

"Everyone was really supportive but also said: 'Oh my God, why? How are you going to manage that?'," Jennifer said. "We've had a lot of support from clients."

Money raised is going towards the North West Air Ambulance (NWAA), Crohn's and Colitis UK and Bloodwise.

"My boyfriend has been diagnosed with Crohn's," said Jennifer. "Cecilia's dad has blood cancer and we also chose the NWAA because we feel it helps a lot of people in rural communities."

Cecilia is moving to New Zealand for a year so there are not any more challenges planned but Jennifer said she hopes to do so more fell races.

"Each day felt like it would never end," Jennifer said. "When we finished we just hugged each other. I still cannot believe we did it."

If you would like to donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/teams/5marathonsin5days