THOUSANDS of pounds will be raised for local and national charities after more than 1,500 people ran in the Wycombe Half Marathon on Sunday.

One of the charities set to receive a boost is the Bucks Free Press/Aitchisons appeal for the children of Maggie Doel and Sally Jamieson, who died in the High Wycombe lorry crash in June.

An extra 400 people signed up in a week for the event after its organisers made the appeal its official charity for this year.

Organiser Alex Johnson said: "We have had a 40 per cent increase in the number of runners taking part and we had a sudden increase in the number of people taking part for the trust fund.

"We had something like 400 extra entries inside a week from when we linked in the marathon and the appeal which was a terrific response."

The course was kept open longer than the usual three hours because of the sheer number of runners.

Mr Johnson said it could take a couple of months to collect all the money.

Derek Brown, running for the Chiltern Harriers, was first to cross the finish line with a time of 1hr 13mins and 48 secs.

He said: "I have been running the half marathon for the last 12 years and this is the first time I have won it."

Andrew Lynch clinched second place and Gary Harris finished third.

The first woman home was Jude Craft with a time of 1hr 21mins and 44 secs, giving her a hat-trick of wins in the Wycombe Half Marathon.

She said: "I got to about nine miles and was about to give up because I set off so fast."

Lesley Whiley came in second and not far behind was Rhona MacDonald in third place. Tony Barlow, from Naphill, took part just for fun and lived up to his number 666, dressing up as the devil himself. Former Royal Grammar School pupil Simon Molden joined the race as part of a team of Oxford University students calling themselves the Fat Old Knackers. He ran the race in 1hr 18mins.