Fifty people put their best foot forward to raise nearly £7,000 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance in this year’s Bath Half Marathon.

The air ambulance team, which included supporters, former patients and their families, took on the challenge on March 2 and so far have raised £6,941.65, with more still coming in.

Many of the runners, including air ambulance administration assistant Georgie Richardson, 21, had either been directly helped by the air ambulance or knew someone who had.

Just five days before the run her boyfriend’s stepfather Mike Tinsley from The Deverills, near Warminster, had a heart attack at work.

Mr Tinsley, 51, was treated on scene by paramedics from South West Ambulance Service and Wiltshire Air Ambulance but it soon became clear he needed specialist intervention.

In just eight minutes he was flown by the air ambulance to the Royal United Hospital in Bath, a journey which could have taken 40 minutes by land ambulance. He underwent an immediate operation and spent five days in the RUH’s coronary care unit. He is now recovering at home.

Mr Tinsley’s wife, Sarah, said: “Mike and I are so grateful for the incredible service he received from every single person involved after I dialled 999. The response was so fast and all the wonderful people who were involved are the reason he is alive today.”

Miss Richardson, who lives in Bulkington, said: “I often talk to patients and their families about how the charity has helped them, but I never imagined that someone close to me would need the air ambulance.

“What happened to Mike brought it home that anyone of us, any day, could need the lifesaving skills of the paramedics and the air ambulance.

“On behalf of everyone at Wiltshire Air Ambulance we’d like to say a big thank you to all our runners who really did go the extra mile to raise this amazing amount.”