Raising money for charity can be a grubby business - as runners found out at a race in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Maidstone’s Mote Park was overrun with participants for the organisation’s Pretty Muddy obstacle course on Sunday, July 8.

Competitors took on the challenging 5k run, scrambled over an A-frame, and crawled through a mud pit to do their bit to help beat cancer.

Children had the chance to take on the challenge too.

Their course included an extra obstacle, where they could shoot down a waterslide and splash into a pool of mud. Those who weren’t so keen on getting dirty took to the park the previous day to compete in the Race for Life.

The charity has produced a video of the event which it has uploaded to YouTube.

Despite temperatures hitting a sweltering 30 degrees over the weekend, 6,000 runners took part.

Thanks to their efforts, the events raised a whopping £420,000 which will go towards vital research.

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Jess Edwards, events manager at Maidstone Race for Life, said: “Maidstone did us proud – it was a fantastic weekend.

“Both days were very hot but people threw themselves into it – especially on the Sunday when we had the Pretty Muddy events. The kids loved getting soaked in water and caked in mud. The women were the same – like big kids. And most importantly of course, every step each one of them took, was helping our scientists beat cancer.”