FUND-raising West Somerset schoolgirl Darcey Curran will be attempting her toughest challenge to date on Saturday (December 28) in support of Exmoor Search and Rescue (ESR) and the Canal and River Trust (CRT).

Darcey, aged 11, who attends Minehead Middle School, will be running 7.5 miles of the Channel UK Events community canal run along the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal.

She will be accompanied by her father, Mark, who will attempt to run the full 14 miles of the canal towpath.

Mr Curran said it was a ‘huge challenge’ for Darcey, who holds the record as the youngest person to complete the 30-mile Exmoor Perambulation walk when she was aged nine years.

He said: “This is a monumental challenge for me.

“I have only been running for the last couple of years and I have reached 60 and so far I have not even run 10 miles, let alone 14.

“Despite the usual feasting and drinking at Christmas, Darcey and I will have to limit the treats and will be practicing daily.

“Both of us are raising money for the Exmoor Search and Rescue team, who are an amazing group of volunteers and totally funded by donation.

“I have often met the hard working members of ESR and they do some amazing work and are all volunteers.

“It would not matter if it was a blizzard, steaming hot, howling rain, they would still go out and help you.

“All their funding comes from donations, so every penny counts.”

Minehead-based Channel UK Events is a community interest company founded five years ago which aims to run ‘engaging and accessible lifestyle events that drive lifelong, self-led participation in physical activity in the outdoors’.

The free to enter canal run is ‘a fun community’ event and will not be timed or have any medals to give out, nor will there be any aid stations provided, although Apex Medical and Rescue is volunteering medical cover.

A Channel UK Events spokesperson said it was an opportunity to support CRT, which had waived its licence fee for the event, which was being organised in partnership with Taunton Running Club.

An ESR spokesperson said: “We assist the police in locating lost or missing persons, and the ambulance service to recover the injured or ill from remote locations.

“We are skilled and equipped for search, including dogs and drones, pre-hospital medical care, technical rope and water rescue, available every day or night.”

Mr Curran and Darcey have set up a GoFundMe page for anybody who wants to support their effort, which has so far raised £245 toward a £500 target.