A FUNDRAISING race to honour a 36-year-old champion athlete who died suddenly last January has been made an annual event.

Nicky Fearn and John Withinshaw, of JDW Fitness, Thirsk, said they hoped to raised more than £2,000 by staging the second Ben Campbell 5k and 10k trail runs at Kilburn Woods, on April 17.

The inaugural event, to celebrate the life of the former Thirsk School pupil and Ripon-based Econ Engineering plater-welder, who died from pneumococcal pneumonia, raised £1,700 for the Youth Sport Trust.

Organiser Ms Fearn said: ""Ben loved to take part in muddy runs and obstacle races, and we therefore feel this is a fitting tribute to his memory.

"Kilburn Woods is a very popular training playground for runners local to Thirsk and it seemed a shame that there wasn't an event of this type on offer and we had such good feedback from the race this year that we didn't hesitate to think to organise it again."

Entries will be limited to 50 for the 5km race, which starts at 10am and 200 for the 10km race, which starts 15 minutes later.

For details, visit jdw-fitness.co.uk/ben-campbell-5k-10k-trail-races/