A KIDDERMINSTER man has put his fitness to good use to help raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Inspired by the story of local teenager Stephen Sutton, 42-year-old, Martin Davies, laced up his walking boots to complete an endurance charity trek known as the Dirty Dozen.

The idea of the event is to ascend Pen-Y-Fan, the highest mountain in southern UK, 12 times - a total distance of 48 miles and an incline of 21,500ft.

This alone would put the challenge on par with a typical Himalayan mountain, but Martin, an exhibition stand designer, wanted to complete it within 24 hours.

He said: “I’m a member of a running club in Kidderminster and have done half marathons and that kind of thing to raise money for Cancer Research UK in the past.

“However, I was thinking to do something that is challenging and I could raise money from, but also doesn’t cost thousands of pounds to travel half way round the world to do.”

With the help of two local runners, Sian Powell, 18, and Adrian Wills, 51, Martin attempted the "tough" challenge and to make it worse, he fell when coming down on one of his climbs.

“The walk was an absolute killer,” he said.

“I got to number five or six and started to fall because I was becoming fatigued and even though it was agony going up, it was actually a lot more painful coming back down.

“Sian and Adrian were great and gave me a lot of support. Sian is only 18 and she was planning to do about three of the ascents but ended up doing six.”

The trio were able to complete the mammoth task within 23 hours and 30 minutes and have so far been able to raise £1350.

Martin added: “It felt absolutely brilliant to finish it – I didn’t know whether it would be possible to complete, especially after I took a tumble.

“I thought I might have to pull out as I couldn’t walk for about an hour but I was strapped up and carried on.

“We had great support from our friends and family, who had travelled from Kidderminster and during the day, many of the other walkers gave us great support and also donated to the charity which was really pleasing.”

To donate to the cause visit justgiving.com/martin-davies42