Alina & Sanna run around the clock for breast cancer charity

The pair raised over £3,000 by running a mile every hour for 24 hours for their friend

Neil Riddell

4 March 2021 12:58

Alina and Sanna celebrate at the end of their 24-hour challenge.

TWO FRIENDS have raised over £3,000 for a breast cancer charity after successfully completing the challenge of running one mile every hour for 24 hours last weekend.

Alina Murray and Sanna Aitken had been exercising together throughout lockdown and decided to set themselves the challenge to support Make 2nds Count, a charity that has helped their friend and netball teammate Rhianne after she was diagnosed with breast cancer early last year.

They began their day-long endurance, running a mile around Clickimin Loch, at 4am on Saturday and concluded at 3am on Sunday.

Sanna said they had raised over £800 prior to the start. Donations kept flooding in throughout the day which helped boost their morale, and they are “really delighted” with the total now raised, which stands at some £3,254 from 211 supporters.

“It’s kind of our new way to socialise with each other with all the restrictions in place,” Sanna said. “We thought it would be nice just to have something to aim for throughout the winter, and there’s nothing else really on at the weekends at the moment!”

She said Alina had spotted a charity fundraiser that involved doing a mile an hour for six hours and decided it would be more of a challenge to run over the course of 24 hours. “It was all Alina’s idea and she thought I would probably be mad enough to try it with her!”

Alina and Sanna pictured with Rhianne (right) during Saturday’s challenge.

Sanna said the weather had been perfect and it was “so much fun throughout the day”, with friends and family members joining them for 21 of the 24 runs. “They came and did a socially distant jog with us, which certainly helped keep us going throughout the day.”

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The pair have been training quite a lot so they stood up to the physical challenge pretty well although “between 9 o’clock and night and 3 o’clock in the morning for that last push, our legs were definitely feeling it by then – we were tired so just trying to keep ourselves awake between each run was quite challenging in itself”.

“Every hour we got three or four donations while we were out running, and that kept us going for the whole 24 hours,” she added. “It’s just amazing. We’re so happy with the amount we’ve raised now – it’s over £3,200, which I cannot believe. Everybody has been so generous, and it just makes you feel really lucky that you come from a community like this who are behind you for everything.”