A personal trainer from Moira is aiming to run 50 kilometres in a week in aid of frontline workers at Burton and Derby Hospitals.

Jacob Sturgess says his fundraiser has a personal connection a well as boosting the NHS's efforts locally.

His sister is a physio at Derby Hospital where his girlfriend also works as a nurse.

Jacob is a trainer at Snap Fitness in Swadlincote and wants to total a combined 100kms this week along with the gym's assistant manager Ashley Green.

They will not be running together though. Ashley lives at Coton in the Elms and the pair will look to reach their target remotely.

A typical route will take Jacob through Blackfordby, Woodville, Swadlincote and past Moira Furnace before returning home.

But he also runs in the Ashby area too.

And neither of them are doing light jogs.

Both have run half marathons in the past and try to complete 10kms a day in around 40 minutes.

Jacob described the connections that have inspired them to raise money for local front line workers.

He explained: "Some of my family are connected with Burton or Derby hospital, and some of the members of the gym work for the NHS.

"My sister is a physio at Derby hospital and my girlfriend is a nurse, they're both at Derby.

"Then we've got other people who come to the gym and work for Derby and Burton Hospital, and it's we thought it would be a good way to raise money in these tough times for people who work at those hospitals locally.

"We have a couple of midwives who work at Derby, and a couple of nurses at Burton.

"It makes it that little bit more special, raising money for people we know.

"It's a tough time for everybody at the moment.

"But we thought if we could put our bodies through a bit of running torture, we could give ourselves something to aim for.

"And we're are trying to do it at speed

"The gym is closed at the moment, but we don't know how long it's going to be, hopefully sooner rather than later and this is something we can do to keep active during the lockdown."

The duo have a Just Giving page for anyone who wants to make a donation Jacob and Ashley's run

And both hope to take their running ambitions further when restrictions have eased up.

Jacob added: "We wanted to do something after what would've been the back of the London Marathon last Sunday.

"Ash has run two-half marathons and so have I. And we both love our fitness.

"I'm also doing fitness classes for free online, I'm getting a few people watching my classes on a Saturday and Sunday morning, they're on Instagram live.

"We just want to try and keep everybody fit during lockdown keep them active, it's not the best at the moment.

"I haven't run a marathon yet but that will be next I think."