St Neots runner Ricky Taylor has raised hundreds of pounds for charity after completing the Great North Run on September 10.

The Great North Run is one the biggest half marathons in the world and Ricky managed to complete the 13.1 mile course in one hour and 48 mins, placing him 5746th out of 44,000 runners.

Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust’s charity Dreamdrops is set to receive the donation which will support children who are either being nursed on Holly Ward or the Special Care Baby Unit at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, or in the community. The money will be used to purchase extra items that make life more comfortable for children who are unwell.

Ricky said: “I choose Dreamdrops because I wanted to give something back to a local charity. Once I read what fantastic work Dreamdrops does for children and the local community that was enough for me.”

He added: “I was due to run on my own, but my friend Ben Reading was doing the run also, so we ran together for about 10 miles, which helped me massively. My training has been a bit sketchy to say the least, and I trained regularly up to 10 miles at a time on the streets of St Neots. I knew if I could do that then the great crowd in the north east would get me to the finish line, which they did thankfully.”

Anne-Marie Hamilton, chairman of the Dreamdrops fundraising committee said: “Thank you Ricky for choosing to run on behalf of Dreamdrops. You have raised a substantial amount of money for our charity and we cannot thank you enough.”

Ricky set a modest target of £500, and it has since reached £840. His Just giving page is still open if anyone would like to sponsor him. INFO: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ricky-taylor.