A keen horse woman swapped her stallion for Shanks' pony and has raised £1,200 so far for a cancer charity.

Hazel Ackland, who owns Hill Farm Equestrian Centre in Chelmondiston, completed the Breast Cancer Now 100k (60 mile) challenge and even ran one stage in just her sports bra and no top.

Hazel, with the support of husband James and daughters Daisy and Lilly (whose idea it was to just run in the bra) took on the challenger as a positive way of beating the lockdown blues.

"I wanted a challenge to do during lockdown to take my mind off the business," said Hazel. "A close friend of mine, Linda, is a breast cancer survivor, so I wanted to do the challenge for her.

"I have had health issues of my own in the past so I was interested to see if I could do it - and I did."

Hazel admits she is no Paula Radcliffe and was not entirely sure she would cope but in the end she ran every step.

"I have surprised myself," said Hazel. " I checked to see if I was not able to run I could walk, and I was allowed, but did not need to as I ran it all. It started off as a bit of a shuffle but as I got fitter I got quicker.

James and two daughters Lilly and Daisy joined now and again and were with hazel for the last four kilometres, which they all ran together.

" When I started I was trying to keep up with the girls but by the end they had to come on their bikes because they could not keep up with me, so that was a good moment."

The 42-year-old took every opportunity to clock up the miles, even jogging around the fields in between clearing up horse muck, but mainly her rules took her around Pin Mill and Shotley, literally on the school run, or Marsh Lane down to the marina.

Despite suffering a set back when she felt poorly for few days after her Covid jab, Hazel even managed he first non-stop 10k run.

She said: "The pressure was on to catch up and I set out to do a 7k but I felt good so I kept going and did my first 10k that was amazing. That really made me feel happy."

That made up for the no chocolate and alcohol pledge during the first month too, but that's gone now.

Hazel initially had a £150 target, which she quickly smashed so set her sights higher at £1,000. Her fundraising stalled at £800 until Lilly came up with the idea of running in the sports bra, as it was for breast Cancer. The girls decorated the bra and Hazel duly obliged, albeit in secret, and got the boost from £800 to beyond £1,000

"I didn't advertise when I was going out in the bar, but I did it," admitted Hazel. "It has blown me away to make so much and the page is still open." Go to Hazel's page to donate here...

Understandably, Hazel does not want to ruin her hard work and so is seeing a new challenge, perks a 5k, or even the Great East Run.

She is also back at work full time with the equestrian centre at Hill Farm now reopened ready to return to teaching people of all ages and abilities how to rides and look after ponies.

Youngsters from aged two have been known to start and can go all the way through to taking exams. Hazel has recently seen Grace, who was an apprentice, to now got on to work for a GB Equestrian centre.

Go to Hazel's page to donate here...

More details about Breast Cancer Now on the website here...

Learn more about Hill Farm equestrian Centre here...