A Macclesfield woman who ran non-stop for 26 hours raised over £12,000 for the "amazing" NHS this week.

Endurance runner Amy Hughes, who lives in the Hurdsfield area, began the gruelling challenge at 10am on Sunday morning, before finally finishing yesterday (Monday) afternoon.

Amy completed the whole challenge on her treadmill at home, taking only a few very short toilet and food breaks throughout the course of the run and covering over 104 miles.

Explaining why she decided to take the ordeal on, 32-year-old Amy told Macclesfield Nub News: "It was a bit of a last minute decision really; I only decided to do it last week when I was inspired by the London Marathon's 2.6 challenge."

After the London marathon – which would have taken place on Sunday – was cancelled due to Coronavirus, people across the country were asked to complete their own '2.6 Challenge', taking on any run or walk they felt comfortable with in honour of the marathon's 26-mile distance.

After being inspired by the 2.6 Challenge, Amy quite literally decided to go the extra mile.

She continued: "I really wanted to raise some money for the NHS because they are doing so much amazing work at the moment, and as an endurance runner a 26-hour run seemed like the sort of thing I could do.

"It was a bit of a challenge just to get everything organised. I haven't done any big endurance runs since 2016 so I didn't even have a treadmill, I had to get one in time."

The run even attracted celebrity support, with footballer Ryan Giggs, TV personality Denise Welch and sprinter Iwan Thomas all sending messages of encouragement and taking on their own variations of the 2.6 Challenge.

Amy explained that her run was made particularly difficult due to the Coronavirus lockdown, adding: "Every challenge is different to the last, but this one was especially hard because of the lockdown as I couldn't have any visitors to offer me support. Luckily though, there were plenty of people joining Zoom calls to encourage me.

"Running from around 1am – 3am was the most challenging part mentally, because everyone is in bed so you're on your own. The longest amount of time I've spent running before that was 20 hours, so it felt like a big step up."

Although the run has already raised over £12,000 for the NHS so far, the fundraiser is still open for anyone who would like to donate.

Amy said: "I wanted to do my best to help the NHS because they are so amazing, and I'd like to thank everyone who has donated so far. If anyone else would still like to donate then that would be greatly appreciated."

To donate, visit Amy's Just Giving page.