TWO women are pulling out all of the stops to run a mile a day during the month of June, for the charity MIND.

Kate Twiddle, 25, an IT Engineer at QBE Insurance in Leeds, and Jess Richardson, 21, an HGV Driver for Richardson Transport in Pocklington, raised £600 in February for the Teenage Cancer Trust by doing squats, and decided to move on to a new challenge.

“We are completely out of our comfort zones this time. As lot of people might know, both of us are not fans of running, we are weight lifting, hit workout kind of girls,” said Kate who lives in Clifton Moor.

“But we both understand the importance, especially under current Covid times, of getting outside to improve our own mental health. So we have decided to set ourselves this challenge, and a challenge it will be.

“You might think ‘a mile is easy’ but we are committing to doing that every day for 30 days, come rain or shine.

“We are committing to doing it around our other workouts too, so even if we are sore and achy we are making this commitment.

“Did you know more than half of adults and over two thirds of young people said that their mental health has got worse during the period of lockdown restrictions which is why I think it’s more important then ever to do something to help.”

The duo are now more than halfway through their quest and Jess, who lives in Newton upon Derwent, said: “We thought it would be harder to start with and get easier as we went along, but it seems to have been the other way around.

“I’ve got used to it but it hurts a bit more than when I started. Raising money for charity while doing it, is keeping me going.

“We are trying to beat the £600 we raised in February and we have about £300 in the bank at the moment, with plenty of time to go.

“I would like to continue running and build up to 5k and 10k.”

Donations can be made via Just Giving at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kate-and-jess