A team of primary school staff have coped with blistering heat and blistered feet to complete a 100km charity trek.

The intrepid team of four, from Girlington Primary School, Bradford, walked through the night to complete the challenge for Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

Teachers Liz Lamb and Jeanette Butterworth, nursery nurse Michele Sanderson, and learning mentor Sarah Birkinshaw were among 403 teams of four taking part in Trailwalker 2006 - with the target of walking across the South Downs from Petersfield to Brighton in 30 hours.

They completed their challenge with time to spare in 27 hours and 30 minutes.

The team were waved off by colleagues and pupils on Friday morning from the school in Girlington Road.

They camped overnight at a campsite being run by soldiers from the Gurkhas, who also manned checkpoints along the route.

They then walked the 100km (around 62 miles) from Petersfield to Brighton Racecourse non-stop.

Michele said: "We camped overnight and set off at 6am which meant we got up at 5am. The first day was great, lovely scenery in the South Downs and lovely weather but the Sunday was not pleasant and the last six hours were horrendous.

"On Saturday it was hot though there was a breeze but Sunday was too hot."

The women have been training for months to raise their fitness levels in preparation for the event. But it was blistered feet and finding the way in the dark which proved to be the biggest obstacles.

Michele said: "Sore feet were the big problem. We stopped along the way to put plasters on top of plasters which were already on blisters."

"We got back into Bradford on Sunday and had to go to work on Monday and I felt like I would need to be carried in, but apart from my feet I was fine.

"We did get lost at one point during the night. It went dark at about 9.30pm and dawn broke at about 4am.

"We had to find our way using head torches and a map but we got lost when we followed another group who didn't know where they were going but we found our way again."

The team had to raise £1,000 to take part in the event, organised by Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust, and they surpassed their total with cash raised from family and friends and through the school.

Girlington Primary pupils took part in a sponsored 1km trek and held a non-uniform day to raise cash.

e-mail: john.roberts@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

HOW THE CASH WILL HELP

The money raised will be split between Oxfam and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

  • Oxfam is an international charity which works to eradicate poverty.

It is working in 70 countries around the world. Its campaigns include the East Africa food crisis where 11 million people are facing food shortages.

Oxfam is working to help rebuild water and sanitation systems in Kashmir, Pakistan and India in the aftermath of the earthquake disaster in October.

And it has also helped 1.7 million people across seven countries to rebuild their lives after the South Asian tsunami disaster in 2004.

  • The Gurkha Welfare Trust was set up to support soldiers who have served in the Brigade of Gurkhas and their families.

Gurkhas are recruited from Nepal to serve in the British Army. They have been fighting for Britain for almost two centuries ever since a peace deal was signed with Nepal in 1815.

There were 200,000 soldiers who fought in the two world wars. Thirteen Gurkhas have been awarded the Victoria Cross.

Despite spending a minimum of 15 years serving the British Army, thousands of these soldiers have been returned to Nepal without a pension or the right to British citizenship.

The Trust was formed in 1969 to provide financial support to the men who are living in hardship. Tony Blair announced in 2004 that Gurkhas who had served for four years could apply for British Citizenship.