A huge congratulations to Radiology Charge Nurse, Gareth Firth, who came first place in his age category at the Keswick Mountain Festival.

The festival took place in the Lake District between the 17th and 19th of May. Gareth competed in the 10km trial run, which was his first-ever trial run. The event saw 507 runners competing and Gareth came eighth overall - an incredible achievement!

Gareth said: "I took up running a couple of years ago as a form of health and wellbeing and to keep my mental health in check. After being bought a pair of trail running shoes for my birthday in November, I decided to sign up to Keswick Mountain Festival as my first trail running event.

"It was a hellish hot day on the Sunday of the event and the thought of running up Cat Bells was pretty daunting. I normally run by myself and hate feeling hemmed in, so I made sure I was up front, and found myself in the top free at the start. As the route started to kick up, I suddenly found myself at the front."

"Although I felt like I was going to die from about halfway through, the thought of my two boys Theo (12) and Austin (9), kept pushing me to keep going.

"It wasn't until the finish line was in sight that I thought I might actually win my heat. There were four waves in the race, so it was an anxious wait and very weird when I did eventually hear my name being announced that I had actually won in my age category."

Congratulations on your fantastic achievement Gareth.