A HOLCOMBE woman who raced against a train has raised hundreds for charity.

Hilary Massey, a member of Ramsbottom Rotary Club, took part in the Race the Train event from Bury to Rawtenstall.

The race was put on by Mad Bull Events in partnership with The East Lancashire Railway and saw entrants run the 11.3 miles between the stations trying to beat the steam train

Mrs Massey, a keen runner, said it was something she always wanted to do.

She continued: "They do one up Snowdon and that is something that has always appealed to me. I was looking at organising our own Rotary one and looking at routes and then by coincidence this one just cropped up.

"It was right on my doorstep so I thought it was a great chance for a new challenge."

Although she did not actually manage to beat the train to the station, Mrs Massey was pleased with her time of one hour and 45 minutes.

The 58-year-old said: "I do enjoy running and have done lots of races but nothing like this, as this involved running down narrow paths with obstacles such as styles.

"I absolutely loved it. It was quite challenging and it was different to everything I have done in the past.

"I never thought for one minute that I would be able to beat the train. It went past me at Edenfield and I wasn't disappointed."

Mrs Massey decided to raise money for Mary's Meals, a charity which is also supported by Rotary.

The charity is a successful schools feeding programme that provides a daily meal to thousands of children in some of the world’s poorest communities.

Mrs Massey wanted to raise the money under the umbrella of Ramsbottom Rotary to raise awareness of the group.

She said: "I thought if I was doing it that I wanted someone to benefit and we had heard about Mary's Meals through Rotary and it seemed a very worthy charity.

"I also wanted to raise awareness of Rotarians and what we do. A lot of people think it is just older men that are members but there are two women in our group.

"There used to be three but Brenda Lovgreen died recently. She was very always very supportive so I thought it was befitting to run in her memory too.

"It was great because a lot of Rotarians came out to cheer me on and it definitely gave me extra speed."

Mrs Massey raised over £300 for the charity.