BRITISH Airways staff and their colleagues are celebrating a successful charity fun run, which raised £2,178 for Breast Cancer Care.

The sum means that the annual event has now raised more than £25,000 for various charities since it was first held in 1993.

One hundred and eighteen runners and walkers took part in the event, with Paul Turnbull from engineering consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff the first to complete the 1.9-mile course round the park.

The first female runner home was Frances Hale, who also works at Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Graeme Fletcher, an IT Project Manager with BA and the main organiser of the event, said: “In this case everyone is a winner, from those who took part or just came along to enjoy the event to our nominated charity, Breast Cancer Care, for which we raised £2,178.”

He added, “We all had a fantastic time and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

“However, the most important thing is that we raised a significant sum of money that will help Breast Cancer Care continue the wonderful work it does.”

Graeme also thanked all the local companies and individuals who had worked so hard to make this year’s charity event such a huge success.

“BA staff and our colleagues in other companies have embraced the fun run with great enthusiasm and their efforts have been rightly rewarded by the success of the event and the amount of money we have raised.

“Our thanks go out to everyone involved.”

Helen Cameron, Area Fundraiser at Breast Cancer Care said: ‘We are delighted that Newcastle Business Park has raised an amazing £2,178 for Breast Cancer Care through their Fun Run and Walk.