money is still flooding in to national and local good causes after runners from North and East Yorkshire completed the gruelling Great North Run.

St Leonard's Hospice benefited from the 13-mile race when Richard Smith, of Woodthorpe, York, and Clive Turner, of Copmanthorpe, raised £1,069 during the event - their first long-distance run.

Richard said: "The training was hard work, but we got each other through it and on the day crossed the finishing line in 2.26 hours.

"It was a fantastic atmosphere and we were placed 21,600 out of 47,500 runners."

Janet Morley, fundraising manager at St Leonard's said: "We are very grateful to Richard and Clive. It takes a great deal of commitment to do something like this."

Simon Pleydell, chief executive of York Health Services NHS Trust, raised £450 for York Against Cancer and the trust's operational director, Susan Acott, raised £860 to help fight motor neurone disease.

At York District Hospital itself the children's ward was given a £889 boost by York runner Raymond Chalmers, who finished the race in two hours and 16 minutes.

The money may be used to help buy a new cot for the ward.

More than £1,000 was raised for Breakthrough Breast Cancer by Linda McDonagh and two community nursing colleagues, Jackie Pattison and Lisa Mole, who all work for The Selby and York Primary Care Trust.

A Pocklington-based company added to its fundraising efforts for a local charity thanks to a super-fit member of staff.

Claire Foster, a marketing executive at Convergent Telecom successfully completed the Great North Run in just under two hours and raised £645 for Robert's Research Appeal.

The appeal was launched last year by Pocklington mother Dianne Owen after her son, Robert, now six, was diagnosed with leukaemia.

The appeal total stands at £22,000, which will go to national charity Children With Leukaemia.

Convergent Telecom staff chose Robert's Research Appeal as their Charity Focus and organised several fundraising events throughout the year, including a quiz night and a staff football tournament, raising over £1,000.

Updated: 12:06 Saturday, November 02, 2002