A MOTHER and daughter from Bradford on Avon have successfully conquered the Sierra Leone marathon, raising £3000 to help some of the country's most vulnerable girls have access to education to boot.

Braving temperatures of 30C and 95 per cent humidity, Kerry Sutton, 46, and 13-year-old daughter Maya joined around 100 UK runners to tackle the gargantuan task for the Street Child's Girls Speak Out appeal.

The Street Child Sierra Leone Marathon, sometimes referred to as the world's 'craziest and most worthwhile', gives runners the chance to meet the very children and families they have been fundraising as the nation tries to recover from the Ebola outbreak.

Personal trainer Ms Sutton, who lives with her daughter Woolley Grange, said: “I went to Sierra Leone to run the marathon and in so doing support the vulnerable girls and women of the country. Running 26 miles has never seemed so short. But that is not hard to understand when you are running in such a beautiful country with all the villagers turning out in full voice and supporting you with such enthusiasm. Many shouting thank you as you ran past.”

“We talked to women who have, with the support of Street Child, built thriving businesses for themselves; we heard first-hand stories of women who have grown up in this country with such a turbulent and violent past.

“It was a wonderful opportunity for my daughter to see first-hand what children her age have to contend with in other parts of the world.

"We were humbled, shocked, inspired. We have returned with a passion and determination to do more. These women and girls deserve better. They need our support and through Street Child we can do just that.”

The money Ms Sutton and Maya, who attends Prior Park school in Bath, have raised will be doubled by the UK government as it was during the charity's UK Aid Match International development funding appeal, which ends on July 17.

Once doubled, £15 of this will pay for a girl's education for a year, £25 to educate a community on the value of girls' education, £125 to set up a mother in business and her daughter in education and £1,000 to refurbish a school.

Street Child CEO Tom Dannatt said: "There are far too many adolescent girls in Sierra Leone who are forced into early marriage, motherhood and prostitution simply because they are too poor to go to school. The country desperately needs more support post-Ebola and with all donations to our Girls Speak Out appeal being doubled; all funds raised will have a massive impact on some of the world’s poorest girls."

Street Child's Girls Speak Out appeal hopes to raise a minimum of £1million to help 20,000 vulnerable children in Sierra Leone and Liberia access a quality education. Visit www.Street-Child.co.uk to support the appeal.