A TOTAL of 24 hours, 129miles on the treadmill and the odd emergency call out made up Bicester Fire Station's charity efforts for charity.

The team of Bicester firefighters and their supporters forged a super team of treadmill runners to take on the tandem effort of a 24-hour challenge.

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The crews pitched up outside the town's Sainsbury's and took to the treadmill in a bid to drum up support for the Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (ANMHE) campaign being taken up by firefighters up and down the county. Their efforts are in honour of a group of women from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service who are taking on a mountain climb up Snowdon.

Teams are raising funds for Bowel Cancer UK, and the team in Bicester also raised funds for the Fire Fighters Charity.

A post on Facebook from Bicester Fire Station before the event said: "The aim is a continuous uphill climb at a three per cent incline - at any pace to simulate a continuous climb, and to support our colleagues who are carrying out a real mountain challenge."

It started at 9am on Saturday and let people have a look around the fire engines.

They raised £700 in that time before heading back to the fire station from 3pm to complete the challenge back at base.

Teams were supported by a number of businesses including Sainsbury's, Anytime Fitness, Pioneer Square management, Nando's and Tesco helping out with fuel.

Bicester Rock Choir even appeared at one stage throughout the challenge with an impromptu flash mob outside Sainsbury's to spur on the firefighters.

The crew took it in turns to take on as many miles as they could on the treadmill with several firefighters taking on three hour run stints overnight.

A Facebook post added that emergency calls did not stop for the challenge, and crews were called out during their charity efforts.

Another post online added: "So amazing, 129 miles down, some incredibly long runs and a huge team effort from those running, walking, cooking, collecting and supporting we’ve finally finished.

"Thankyou all and congratulations to everyone across Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue who has been taking part in or are about to take on the challenge.

"Hopefully we’ve raised awareness, raised some money and had a few laughs along the way."

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Lead organiser for the event in Bicester, firefighter Steve Fulcher added: "We would just like to thank everyone for all the support in the town centre in aid of the two causes, and on social media whilst we completed the challenge."

To follow the ANMHE challenge go to http://bit.ly/2UZYp1E or to donate http://bit.ly/2GlttQ2