Search and rescue heroes complete gruelling 171km 'Searchathlon' calling at March and Chatteris

A charity-funded organisation that helps find missing people took to the roads and rivers of Fenland at the weekend to help raise vital funds.

Camsar (Cambridgeshire Search and Rescue) desperately need a new support vehicle after their current one failed its MoT for the third time to help them attend incidents.

The organisation is run by volunteers from all over the county and provides assistance to the police to help find missing people - typically those that are vulnerable and at risk such as children, those suffering from mental illness, are suicidal or have dementia.

Jonathan Harwood, Camsar's chairman, said: "Most people will have heard of Mountain Rescue or the RNLI, but many don't know about Lowland Rescue, even though we cover a bigger area of the UK and are involved with finding missing people much closer to home.

"We provide a specialised search resource for the police and our volunteers come from all over the county, who are on call 24/7."

This weekend saw a team of 24 volunteers complete a gruelling 171km 'SearchAthlon' challenge.

The aim was to raise £5,000 as a contribution towards a new support vehicle and the challenge took in 30 towns, cities and villages with the team completing the task on foot, cycles and kayaks.

They managed to finish in 23 hours and 40 minutes. They were joined along the way by residents of the places they past through and in Chatteris that included snooker player Joe Perry who walked with the team through the town.

They also stopped off in March and Whittlesey. Among the other places visited was Ely, Peterborough, Huntingdon, St Ives, Pidley and Cambourne.

Jonathan said: "The pride which everyone felt when we crossed the finish line ahead of time was immense. All the hard work that Wayne Bent and the organising team undertook. The whole team needs to be super proud of what they have achieved on this challenge and continue to achieve on a daily basis for the people of Fenland and Cambridgeshire."

There is still time to donate by visiting:

camsar.org, facebook.com/cambridgeshiresearchandrescue, twitter.com/CamSAR999, instagram.com/cambslowlandsar or by text to 70070 "CSAR14 £10".