AT 4am in Tennessee, USA and Dotty and Phil King and their holiday companions and fellow runners, Pam and Dave Adams, were up and on their way to Downtown Nashville to take part in the annual half marathon.

The St Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Marathon and half marathon saw more than 34,000 entrants who took on the 26.2, 13.1-mile and 5K courses, while passing many of Nashville’s best live bands performing along the route.

The race started adjacent to the Bridgestone Arena (home of the Nashville Predators hockey club) and just up from Legend Corners on Broadway. In typical ‘rock n’ roll’ event fashion there were numerous corrals with about 500 participants each, separated by minute start intervals.

Heading east on Broadway toward the Cumberland River, the team running under the name ‘4 Brits in Nashville 4 Holly’, passed by the honky tonks, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Music City Centre before heading up, out and around the city to finish at the Nissan Stadium.

The runners were compounded by the warm, humid weather which reached 80 degrees by the time the finishing line was insight.

The team were running to raise awareness and monies for Brain Tumour Research and for Holly Dunn. They finished together in a very respectable 2 hours 29 minutes 05 seconds.

The team would like to thank everyone who supported and sponsored and helped them raised more than £1,000.