MORE than £8,000 has been presented to charity by a group of Lifton men, who recently tackled the Great River Race in memory of their late friend.

A cheque for £8,235 was handed over to the Cornwall branch of Motor Neurone Disease Association in Lifton last week.

The group took part in the 21.6-mile river race from London Docklands to Ham in Richmond on September 9, in memory of their friend Jeremy Durrant, who suffered from Motor Neurone Disease before sadly passing away last year.

‘The Lifton Bikers’ last year raised £34,000 cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End, and this year’s rowing challenge by the ‘Lifton Self Preservation Society’ marked exactly a year since they set off to Scotland to start their ‘JOGLE’ challenge.

One of the rowers, Paul Davies, said the race was two hours and forty-eight minutes of ‘intense activity’.

He added: “Of the eight people who took part, six or seven got off the boat and couldn’t walk when we finished! Three hundred and fifty boats hit the Thames at the same time — you have to fight your way through.

“We did feel if we could raise £3,000 to £4,000, that would be great — to come back with £8,000 was just incredible. We are very grateful for all the support we got from the local people.”

They were supported in their fundraising in different ways — ‘Feedback’ held a band night at Lifton Farm Shop, and kindly gave £1,500 of the proceeds to the Lifton group.

The idea to take part in the Great River Race came about from Cornish pilot gig builder Brian Nobbs, who built ‘IRON MAID’ in 2006 and lent it for the race.

Ten of them trained with the Tamar and Tavy Gig Club, under the direction of Jeremy Lawrence. None of the Lifton Self Preservation Society had ever rowed a gig before they started in the spring.

Derek Williamson, Cornwall MNDA president, described the group’s efforts as ‘astounding’, adding: “I was, as always, overwhelmed with the stupendous efforts of a wonderful group of people. They have certainly done MNDA Cornwall proud.”

Cath Aitkenhead of Cornwall MNDA, who also attended the cheque presentation with publicity and social media officer Emma Bungay, said: “It really was a lovely evening. The Lifton guys are our true real life superheroes!”

You can still support them by going to the Virgin Money Giving website uk.virginmoneygiving.com and searching for Lifton Self Preservation Society.