COUGARS junior club captain Brendon Rawlins and friends took part in a golf marathon at Branshaw in aid of the Danny Jones fund.

Team-mates James Feather, Danny Lawton and Ben Stead, former Cougars legends Andy Shickell and Will Cartledge, ex-Keighley player Joe Copperwaite and golfer Rick Buxton made up the eight-strong group who took to the Oakworth course for an uninterrupted 24 hours.

Speaking on the 18th following the marathon’s completion, Australian Rawlins said: “It really took it out of us. Every one of the lads have put a massive effort in and we’re all tired now and can’t wait for bed.

“The donations we’ve received have been fantastic. We’ve raised around the £4,000 mark, which is a decent amount of money between the eight of us.”

Copperwaite emerged the overall victor, even setting a new Branshaw course record of eight-under-par in the process.

Despite the longer days of summer, the group played through the evening, with David Kirkley supplying the group with torches and a local company providing glow-in-the-dark balls to be able to play.

“The fatigue really set in during the night golf and around midnight it really started to hit us all then,” added Rawlins.

“We’d played three rounds without any trouble but then it came to the night time and you couldn’t see 50 feet in front of you and we really started to struggle then.”

Rawlins, a utility forward with nearly 200 appearances for the club, gave special praise to Branshaw for allowing the event to take place.

He said: “Branshaw, Richard Buxton and all the members were unbelievable with us from the moment they said we could host the event, which not many clubs around the area would do.

“We had free reign of the course for the full length of time we were here, including all the facilities available, which was great.”