THIRSTY runners lapped up the rewards as they completed each circuit in an annual fun race.

Scores of mostly fancy dress-clad runners soaked up a free half-pint as they finished each one-kilometre lap back at Consett’s Grey Horse pub.

Andrew Wade was the first finisher to enjoy the bonus of a full pint at the Sherburn Terrace watering hole, on becoming 2019 winner of the Beer Belly Run.

Set up to mark a charity personal to a pub regular, the fifth was dedicated to the male suicide awareness charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), in memory of John Gordon’s son Sam, a Consett rugby player, who died suddenly in March 2018.

A grateful Mr Gordon snr and partner Sue provided a musical welcome back to the pub for runners at the end of each lap, as the event helped to raise £3,000 for CALM.