A TAVISTOCK athlete and her team mates from Tavistock Triathlon Club completed a gruelling 54 kilometre challenge recently, in honour of her colleague's wife who died of ovarian cancer at 34.

Alison Whitford and her team mates Nicky Deane-Simmons, Lindsay Hobbs, Liz Vernon and Nikki Bray, took part in the aptly named 'Bude, Sweat and Tears' challenge — a triathlon of 56 kilometres over beach, cliff and trail and one kilometre of vertical climb in Bude.

The event was organised by Alison's colleague Rob Drury. He has been organising events for the last five years to raise money for Prospect Hospice in Swindon, where his wife Sophie spent her final days, and for Macmillan Cancer Support.

This year's challenge saw the Tavistock team start with a seven kilometre run, followed by a 20km bike ride, then a 4km run, and 18km bike ride and a final 7km run.

Alison said this is the third year she has undertaken the challenges: 'Rob asked me if I was going to join in again this year, and I thought it would be nice to get some of my friends from the triathlon club involved.

'Our team came fifth overall out of eleven teams and we were the only team where all members did every section — the other teams did it in relay.

'It was a brilliant achievement.

'Rob is a complete inspiration to dedicate so much time to organising these events.

'A huge amount of time and effort went into it and it was a lovely, lovely event to be part of.'

Fundraising is still ongoing, anyone who would like to donate can do so by visiting http://www.sophieslegacy.org">www.sophieslegacy.org