A team of charity runners who raised £80,000 by running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days have handed over their impressive fundraising total to a Camden-based charity.

The team of friends from across London, who took on the extraordinary challenge in January, visited Acland Burghley School, in Burghley Road, Tufnell Park, to hand over a cheque for £80,000 to disabled children’s charity KEEN London on April 26.

KEEN London provides one-to-one sports training and fun activities for disabled children and young adults at no cost to their families and caregivers at Acland Burghley each weekend.

The team of runners, who each funded their global challenge titled ‘777 Marathon Challenge’, came up with the idea in order to push themselves and raise money for a charity close to their hearts.

They started in the Antarctica, running a marathon on King George Island, before travelling to Chile for another 26 miles, then Houston, USA, followed by a marathon in London, then Egypt and Singapore before running a final marathon in Sydney, Australia, all in the space of seven days.

One of the runners was Dan Honour, 37, an IT sales director from Twickenham, in Richmond upon Thames.

He said: “The worst thing about the challenge was lack of sleep. We averaged about three to four hours of sleep a day. There was no bed until the end, it was about getting sleep when we could.

“It just got harder and harder but because we are a group of friends we kept each other going. We knew what we were achieving was special so that euphoria just pulled us through.

“We decided to support a smaller charity where we could make a big difference. The criteria was it had to be sports-related and because we all have children it had to involve children. KEEN ticked all the boxes.”

Jill Robinson, a KEEN trustee, who lives in Southwood Avenue, Highgate, said: “This money will have a huge impact because it will mean we can run sessions for our children and we can expand them into school holiday time.

“For a small charity, it’s a huge amount of money and it will make a huge difference in supporting families with disabled children. We are hugely appreciative.”

To find out more about KEEN London, visit keenlondon.org