TWO men from East Lothian have helped raise more than £11,000 for a suicide prevention charity by completing a relay run from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Jonny Cunningham, 21, and Cal Molloy, 20, joined fellow former Loretto School pupil Daniel Dalland, 21, and nine other young men from the University of Oxford and University of Glasgow to run 850 miles for the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).

Jonny, a third-year engineering student at Oxford, who lives on Linkfield Road, Musselburgh, and third-year Glasgow medical student Cal, of Links Road, Port Seton, joined friends to run as part of a relay team earlier this month.

The group of 12 men, ranging in age from 20 to 24, split into four teams of three and rallied through six-hour shifts to complete the run.

The distance from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’Groats in Caithness, includes more than 18km of ascent – the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest more than twice.

The runners were joined by a number of friends, who drove the remaining team members while the designated runners completed their shift.

Several participants experienced pulled muscles, sore knees and rolled ankles, with one unlucky runner suffering a bout of food poisoning.

Jonny said that the team took inspiration from two group members who ran 100km last year for Movember.

He said: “We are very proud. We tracked our runs on the Strava app and in total we ran just over 1,440km in five and a half days.

“We completed our run on the Saturday night and hit £10,000 on the Sunday evening.”

The group completed the challenge in just 132 hours and 25 minutes – beating their six-day target.

Jonny added: “Lots of us boys have friends who suffer from mental health and it was important for us to run for this cause.

“One of the relay members, Harry, lost a really close friend to mental illness, so we used a wristband in his memory as our relay baton.

“We are absolutely over the moon with what’s been achieved both on the road and through all the incredible generosity from those who donated.

“It was an incredible five days and, although there have been points where we all questioned what part of us thought running the length of the country was a good idea, it has been so worthwhile to help tackle an issue very important to us all.”

CALM is a leading movement against suicide, which is the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK.

CALM provides a free and anonymous daily helpline and webchat staffed by trained professionals, bereavement support, content on its social media platforms and campaigns against stereotypes of masculinity, suicide and mental health.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/endtoend2021