HUNDREDS of runners from East Lancashire took part in Sunday’s Great Manchester Run to raise money for good causes.

More than 40,000 people completed the 10k race, which was won by Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele. Among them were 27 staff and customers from The Alma Inn pub, in Laneshaw Bridge, and a team from Curtis Law Solicitors in Blackburn.

Temperatures during the event, which was started by double Olympic medallist Christine Ohuruogu, reached up to 25 degrees.

The party from Laneshaw Bridge hired a bus to travel to Manchester alongside 19 runners from Colne firm XLCR Vehicle Management. They were raising money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association following the death of Pendle businessman David Hadfield in March.

Mr Hadfield, a regular customer at The Alma Inn, died at the age of 61 after a seven-month battle with the disease. Ryan Taylor, a family friend of Mr Hadfield’s, and the pub’s general manager, said: “We all really enjoyed it and we’ve raised almost £2,000 so far on our JustGiving page, with more sponsorship to come. David’s death made us more determined and no-one pulled out. It brought everyone together.”

Some staff from Curtis Law Solicitors dressed as superheroes to add to the atmosphere, with Joanne Lever dressed as Wonder Woman, Nkolika Oraka dressed as Batgirl, Danielle Haworth was Supergirl and Shonagh Horgan donned a Spider-Girl outfit.

They raised £1,134, which will be evenly split between The Christie, Macmillan Cancer Research, East Lancashire Hospice, and the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

And Blackburn woman Jen Burnside, 32, raised £230 for The Lymphoma Association in honour of her father, Richard, who died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in January 2011.