BATTLING Cardenden dad, Danny King, achieved his goal of completing 30 miles in 24 hours to raise money for the Fife Type 1 Warriors children's charity, but he admits that midway through the challenge he felt it was going to be an awful struggle.

Danny took on the Yeti Ultra 24 Challenge, in which he had to run five miles every four hours, eventually covering a total distance of thirty miles in a single 24-hour period. He started his event at 4am last Sunday!

It all came from his daughter Daniella being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last September and upon her discharge from hospital Danny and wife Dawn, who did a key job in ensuring the runner kept taking on the calories he needed, were advised to join Fife Type 1 Warriors.

Said Danny: "They are a local support group for children with Type 1 diabetes and their families. "They were very welcoming and extremely helpful when Daniella was first diagnosed, and we quickly realised that they were not just a support group but more like a community that would arrange fun activity days for all the kids and parents which I thought was a great thing.

"After attending one of their events and knowing this can only be done through fundraising, I knew there and then, that when the time was right, I would love to help raise money for the group.”

The thing is that Danny has a few personal challenges when it comes to running events: “I have a rare form of inflammatory arthritis which affects various joints, including my knees, plus I have a total right hip replacement.

"This makes running in general, more difficult for me but it was something I was determined to take on."

He faced six legs of the challenge which was based around Loch Leven and also Cardenden, each of them around five miles, and he knew that there were a few things he would have to get his head around.

Said Danny: "Running five miles means you having to eat to keep your energy levels up and taking on board something like 1,000 calories per run about three hours before was something that I wondered how I would cope with it.

"Bloating can become an issue and it was something encountered and also on Leg 4 I started to find my calf muscles giving me problems and some cramps.

"During Leg 4 I really started to struggle and at times I thought how and I going to keep going.

"It was nothing to do with my arthritis at all, so I had to keep focused and get to the finish of the leg and mercifully I got here."

He had a wee nap after that one and when he woke up he felt so much better and headed out on Legs 5 and 6 and was surprised how things started to go much like the first two legs.

"I have to say that my two running friends, Chris Wright and David Cant, did a lot to keep me going at times, they were real inspirations and helped me manage the last two legs much better than I expected, especially after the problems of the fourth one.

"I was so pleased to be able to achieve the Yeti Challenge and so far I have realised £1,200 for the Fife Type1 Warriors."

But thanks to a generous gesture from decorating friend Karine Drew he may be able to raise another £500.

"Karine runs The Pink Paint Pot and is doing a raffle whereby the prize is Karine decorating the room of a person's choice in their house in any way they want and it is £5 to enter," added Danny.

"She hopes to raise £500 which would be amazing and there is still some money yet to come in from my fundraising."

Danny, who is leaving his donation page for the Fife Type1 Warriors open until the end of August, concluded: "I would like to thank everyone who has backed the cause and Chris, David and Dawn and my biggest supporter Danielle".