Settle Primary School teacher Amy Greenwood ran the Great North Run and raised hundreds of pounds for charity.

Miss Greenwood ran with her dad Terry and the pair completed the half-marathon in two hours 22 minutes.

Miss Greenwood, who lives in Ingleton, took part in the 13.1 mile challenge, from Newcastle to South Shields on Tyneside, to raise funds for research into Alzheimer’s disease, in memory of her grandma.

Miss Greenwood said: “The Great North Run was an absolutely fantastic experience. We’ve raised around £1,000 for Alzheimer’s and would like to thank everyone who has supported us.”

Headteacher Richard Wright said: “We are all very proud of Amy. She is a dedicated, caring teacher who has raised important awareness of Alzheimer’s and is an inspiration to us all.”

If anyone would like to contribute to her collection, they can do so via the Settle Primary School office.

Also taking part was Matthew Cox, 30, from Skipton.

Matthew, communications manager at Skipton Financial Services, finished 16,082nd out of 55,000 runners and achieved a personal best of two hours, seven minutes and 58 seconds.

In doing the run, he raised more than £1,300 for the Spinal Injuries Association, having been inspired to support the charity after an accident which paralysed his good friend Jack Morgan, a Craven College lecturer from Embsay.

Matthew said: “It was an extremely hot day, which made things more difficult and took a lot of runners by surprise. However, knowing I was running to help those with spinal injuries kept me going to the end. After four previous Great North Runs, I was delighted to knock over a minute off my personal best. I would like to thank everyone who sponsored me.”

Anyone wanting to sponsor Matthew and help the Spinal Injuries Association can do so at justgiving.com/Matthew-Cox.

Making her Great North Run debut, Craven Herald advertising manager Gemma Aldersley completed the run in two hours 15 minutes – despite an injury. She hurt her ankle during training last week but still managed to get round the course.

“I am not what you could call a natural runner. In fact, I must have been at school the last time I did any form of running,” said Gemma, who has so far raised £170 for Action for Children.

Anyone who wishes to make a donation should log onto justgiving.com/Gemma-Aldersley.

Simon Foster also completed his first half-marathon. The 38-year-old, of Seedhill Terrace, Steeton, finished below his target of two hours with a time of one hour 54 minutes.

The learning and development manager’s efforts have raised just short of £500 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Mr Foster, who recently lost three stones, said: “I noticed I had started to get middle-age spread and feared for my future as a couch potato. So, I decided I had to take the matter in hand before it was too late and set about changing my lifestyle for the better.”

In the past year he has also taken on a number of 10k races.

A mother of two from Barnoldswick has raised more than £900 for charity after taking part in the run. Emily Molloy, 33, of Park Road, completed the course in two hours 22 minutes – way under her target of three hours.

The business process analyst for Daisy PLC first considered doing the run nine years ago, but before she could sign up she discovered she was pregnant with her eldest daughter Isobelle. She then had a second daughter, Lily, and all plans to train for the run went out of the window.

However, earlier this year Emily was given the opportunity to run for the Anthony Nolan Trust and this persuaded her to take the plunge. The only problem was she had just three months to train.

Emily said: “I was really nervous because you hear about people training for a full year to do the run and I also had a leg injury which hampered my efforts somewhat. But I was dedicated to the cause and I knew I had to get to the finish line in order to collect the money pledged by generous family, friends and colleagues.”

Emily held a curry night at the Marsala Rooms in Foulridge days before the run, which raised £655, and more donations are coming in. Many of the evening’s guests were friends and relatives of Colne mother-of-two Julie Patefield, who died from leukaemia in June.

Emily said: “It really hit home to me that Julie was a mother of two girls like myself and a tragedy like this could hit any one of us.”

The Anthony Nolan Trust helps to find bone marrow donors to help save the lives of people suffering from leukaemia and the charity relies on donations.

To make a donation, visit justgiving.com/Emily-Molloy/ Burnsall woman Carol Champion also made it to the finish line, despite undergoing an operation seven weeks earlier.

She said: “I did not know if I would be able to do the run so I only got sponsors in the last three weeks. Through their generosity I still managed to get £421 for The British Red Cross and £212 for Breast Cancer.

“I got blisters after the first two miles so had to get them dressed every mile or so at the Red Cross first aid stations, so I actually walked the remaining 11.1 miles. But I still managed to complete the run in three hours and 22 minutes, which I didn’t think was too bad for a rather unfit person.”