NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group business manager, Mary Hughes, has raised more than £1,000 for a York Mind by running the Great North Run.

She completed the 13.1-mile race in Newcastle on September 10 in support of York Mind – and her feat has been met with generous donations from family, friends and colleagues totalling nearly £1,100.

Mary decided to run the race to raise funds for the charity, which provides mental health services locally after losing a friend to mental illness and experiencing her own personal challenges.

She said: “I decided to run the Great North Run because I really wanted to do something to help and, also having personal challenges myself,"

"I wanted to push my own boundaries.

“One of my best friend’s husband unfortunately lost his life to mental illness and I had his name on the back of my top. So it’s nice to think that, if I was reading everyone else’s messages and they saw his name and the charity I was running for, then they might have felt the same way I do - proud.

“I chose York Mind because I saw one of their stalls at work and spoke to them about running (to raise money), because one of the things that used to really help me was running.

“They want to create awareness for mental health but they also want to help people with their recovery and try to get them back. Sometimes people don’t (recover) but it’s just having the funds to do that because everyone’s road to recovery is different.”

Mary, who has worked for the NHS for six years, started training for the race in April and completed the course in a time of two hours and 39 minutes – some 99 minutes shy of Mo Farah’s race-winning time of one hour and six seconds but a commendable effort nevertheless.

She said: “By the time I went over the line, Mo Farah was nine minutes away from the end. People asked, have you seen Mo Farah?’ and I was like, ‘He was an hour and 40 minutes in front of me."

“I’ve never felt such a great sense of personal achievement. My husband and one of my best friends were stood at mile 12 so I knew I had to get there.

“I got really emotional and upset once I crossed the finish line because, not only had I done it for myself, I also raised over £1,000 for a charity that’s all about mental Illness and creating awareness - so I feel proud that someone’s going to benefit from the money I’ve raised.”

Although the Great North Run only took place earlier this month, Mary has already set her sights on running further races in the future to raise more money and awareness for good causes.

Phil Mettam, the CCG’s accountable officer, said: “Everyone at the CCG would like to congratulate Mary for completing the Great North Run and for raising nearly £1,100 for York Mind, which provides fantastic support to people with mental health issues in York and the surrounding area.

“I know Mary put a lot of time and effort into training in the months leading up to the race so she should be thoroughly proud of her achievement.”

Holly Bilton, York Mind’s community fundraiser, said: “We’re so thrilled that Mary chose to fundraise for York Mind with her first Great North Run experience, and it is especially touching that Mary was inspired to run in memory of her friend.

“It’s also a wonderful bonus to know that Mary has found her running helpful personally too. On behalf of everyone at York Mind, thank you to Mary and to everyone who sponsored her for completing this epic challenge – we are all very proud of you.”