A MOTHER who staged her own triathlon to raise money for a cancer charity has raised just over £3,000 from her venture.

Jill Harker, from Northallerton, spent her 59th birthday on Saturday, July 27, swimming, cycling and running to raise money for a cancer charity.

Mrs Harker’s daughter, Wendy, was diagnosed with a tumour in her eye, so she set herself her athletics challenge to raise funds for the Eye Tumour Research Fund.

She covered the equivalent of a half marathon - swimming just over three miles in Richmond Swimming Pool, then cycling five miles and running five miles.

Mrs Harker, who worked as a teaching assistant at Romanby Primary School for 18 years, until retiring this summer, said: “I have no plans to do any more triathlons at this moment, but I would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who supported me.”