A news team from the Nottingham Evening Post have raised more £1,000 towards the paper’s Maggie’s cancer care appeal after running a half marathon.

Deputy editor Martin Done, assistant editor Martin Biddle, news editor Steven Fletcher, deputy news editor Jacqui Walls, design editor Marcus Duffield and assistant chief sub Steve Willey all volunteered to take part in the Experian Robin Hood half marathon, completing the city course after weeks of training.

Finishing streets ahead of his colleagues, Marcus crossed the finish line in one hour 34 minutes.

Meanwhile Martin Done, Steve and Jacqui all came in under the two-hour mark, finishing within 30 seconds of each other.

Martin Biddle’s time was two hours 14 minutes, while Steven came in at two hours 26 minutes.

The team in training

Jacqui said: “It was a real challenge for all of us and everyone was hobbling round the office on Monday morning.

“But we’ve had a fantastic amount of support and we’re so pleased that we managed to raise so much money for Maggie’s.”

The event was the first half marathon that Martin Biddle, Martin Done and Jacqui had tackled, and so each took training seriously before the race.

Jacqui after the race

But for Martin Biddle much of the thought he put into preparing for the half marathon went out the window on the day.

He said: “The hardest stretch turned out to be the easiest – because there were hundreds of people on that part of the route which made it fly by.

“The wall for me came with just three miles to go – my legs were ready to give way and my head was in the clouds.

“There were few spectators, I had lost my running partner, I knew I hadn’t raised much sponsorship and I didn’t even have an iPod! I just kept thinking why am I doing this?

“I drifted for about half a mile before deciding on one last burst to the finish line.”

The money raised by the team will go towards the paper’s £500,000 campaign to get a Maggie’s cancer care centre built in the city, with the tally currently standing at almost £70,000.