A Royston solicitor ran the equivalent of Cardiff to Warsaw and back to raise money for a cancer charity.

Letty Gleister, who is a partner and head of the Royston office of Tees Law, completed the virtual running challenge with nine other teammates in aid of Marie Curie.

The group ran a distance of 3,600km between them in just 17 weeks, with each team member committing to a 22km weekly half-marathon to reach their goal.

The team chose to support Marie Curie because their teammate Laura’s mother Lesley was cared for in the Cardiff Marie Curie Hospice, having been diagnosed with ovarian cancer just six months after Laura’s own diagnosis with breast cancer. Lesley first went into the hospice in October 2019, which Laura said gave her the time and thinking space she needed to come to terms with her diagnosis and prognosis.

For her mum’s birthday in November last year, Laura signed herself, Letty, and eight of their friends to run the Cardiff half-marathon on October 4 this year, before it was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Undaunted, the group came up with the idea to run the distance from Cardiff (Lesley and Laura’s birthplace) to Warsaw (Marie Curie’s birthplace) and back by October 4, to raise money for the hospice which had given Lesley so much care and support. Sadly, Lesley died in June, just a few weeks into their challenge.

The team far exceeded their original funding goal of £2,500, so set themselves a new target of £10,000 and then £12,500, and they have now raised more than £12,700.

Letty said: “This has been such a wonderful challenge to take part in and, despite lockdown and losing Lesley in June, it has brought us all a great sense of joy and purpose over the past few months.

“It’s been a really tough 18 months for Laura and we’re all so impressed with her for committing to this challenge so wholeheartedly, especially since her fitness was understandably low to start with due to her own cancer treatment and recovery.

“I know that Lesley would have been extremely proud of Laura – and the whole team – for all that we have achieved, and grateful to be able to give something back to Marie Curie.”

To donate go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cardifftowarsaw