RUNNING 26 miles through snow and ice in freezing temperatures may not be many people's idea of fun.

But husband and wife team Evelyn Haran, 43, and Tony Copp, 51, from Westbury Leigh, did just that when they took part in the North Pole Marathon. The couple braved temperatures as low as 27C to complete the course to raise money for Kids, a charity which improves children's adventure playgrounds.

Ms Haran said: "It wasn't a 26-mile marathon but a 26 mile endurance. The course was very rough. It was like running in a sugar bowl.

"We had to wear snow shoes which were a nightmare. It was like running with tennis racquets on your feet. Just under half of it was fairly solid but for the rest it was fairly soft snow and we were up to our knees in snow sometimes."

Ms Haran, whose nickname was trucking along' completed the race in 11 hours while her husband Tony rank outsider' Copp impressed everyone by finishing in seven and a half hours to end up in 16th place, out of the 43 competitors in the men's race.

The pair went as part of a 10-strong team from Pizza Express, where Ms Haran works in marketing. The team flew out to Oslo on April 6 and then on to Spitsbergen in the north of Norway the next day. In the early hours of April 8 they flew up to the North Pole to complete the race.

Bad weather meant their flight home was delayed but they finally got back last Tuesday.

Ms Haran said she was very proud of Mr Copp's achievement when he was the first Pizza Express team member to finish but admitted she was relieved, amazed and tired when she ended her 11-hour slog.

"From my point of view I was moving constantly for 11 hours. We stopped for drinks but apart from that kept going. It was perpetually light so I started in broad daylight and finished at 11.30pm still in broad daylight," she said.

The couple prepared for the event by running on Salisbury Plain because of the high winds but nothing could prepare them for the extreme temperatures.

"Although it was not very windy it is surprising just how cold it is. The temperature fluctuated between 10C and 27C," Ms Haran said.

She said she would not take part in the race again but was ready to take part in some other challenges.

"I wanted to do this because of the location and in some ways the opportunity to see the North Pole just took over. I still can't believe I've been there. It was absolutely astounding."