A TRIO of fitness fanatics from Harpenden have embarked on a 350 mile run to raise money for charity. Andrew Dobie, aged 26, Chris Vernon-Smith, also aged 26, and Dave Oswin, aged 24, set off on their mission in the early hours of Monday morning and will

A TRIO of fitness fanatics from Harpenden have embarked on a 350 mile run to raise money for charity.

Andrew Dobie, aged 26, Chris Vernon-Smith, also aged 26, and Dave Oswin, aged 24, set off on their mission in the early hours of Monday morning and will be running across the country for over four weeks, hoping to arrive in Edinburgh on September 2.

Andrew, who lives in Sydney Avenue and has just finished a teacher training course, set himself the challenge as a means to raise money for two charities close to his heart, the Stroke Association and Action for Children.

He explained: "My late grandfather, who inspired my love for sports, suffered a number of strokes in his later life and the Stroke Association provided an invaluable service to him during the time. As for Action for Children, I found out about their inspirational work whilst on school placement during my training."

Chris, who lives in Dalkeith Road, and Dave, of Balfour Court, will accompany Andrew every step of the way, breaking each day down into three short runs of 10km each and using rest periods for visiting local towns and villages en route.

Andrew, who was diagnosed with ME when he was a teenager, said it feels great to be fighting fit again: "I suffered from extreme fatigue for nearly six years and not being able to exercise made me depressed. My recent return to fitness has been a huge success and with this run I hope to test my physical and mental strength to the limit."

The Harpenden team have set themselves a fundraising target of �5,000 and to help them reach it you can sponsor Andrew online at www.justgiving.com/rundobierunstroke or www.justgiving.com/rundobierunactionforchildren