THREE friends, who all studied in York, are taking on a staggering running challenge in memory of one of their fathers who sadly passed away last year.

Jamie Copeland, Brad Simmons and Michael O’Dwyer, who all studied at York St John university, are taking on the mammoth challenge of running a half marathon every day for a month.

Brad sadly lost his dad Glenn to cancer last year. Glenn was known as an “inspirational leader,” at the YMCA Trinity Group, who support young people.

The three friends have decided to take on the challenge, which equates to combined effort of 1218 miles, to support the ‘Access 2 Employment’ programme, which was started by Glenn.

Brad said that he is “eager,” to raise funds for something that his father was passionate about.

Jamie, a close friend of Brad’s, said: “Glenn worked tirelessly to support young people to help them when they found themselves with nowhere to stay.

“We are hoping to create the ‘Glenn Simmons Fund’ which will be able to offer individuals an opportunity to access much needed resources that they cannot afford themselves.

“Hopefully this will help give people a chance to begin a career in an industry where they may otherwise had been restricted to do so.”

Glenn started the programme in 2016 to help young people into education, training or employment. Over 1,000 youngsters have now engaged with the programme.

The three runners are aiming to raise £1 for every mile completed and reach a target of £1,218.

They started the challenge on January 3, as this was exactly a year on from when Glenn passed away.

To support their efforts, visit: https://bit.ly/2Lk7GhV