A STUDENT and charity worker has raised hundreds of pounds for a youth charity by completing a half marathon.

Liz Harper, 22, ran the half marathon at Warrington Running Festival.

The University of Cumbria PhD student, who is originally from Warrington, has raised over £400 for Carlisle Youth Zone.

Liz is a youth worker at the centre.

She said: "I wanted to raise £100, I thought that was a good starting point.

"But I ended up raising about £430. It was just the best feeling to be able to do that.

"It was a big surprise as well. I didn’t think I’d get anywhere as near as I got.

"It’s wonderful, It’s really, really great."

Liz moved to Carlisle in 2017 to study applied psychology at the University of Cumbria. She also completed a postgraduate degree before starting her PhD.

She heard about Carlisle Youth Zone in her first year of university. In 2018, she started volunteering and became an employee two years ago.

The centre aims to provide a safe and fun environment for young people to develop and fulfill their potential.

It is open six nights a week and has about 1,000 young people using its services weekly.

"I just think it’s such an amazing place. We’ve got a youth zone [in Warrington] now but when I was growing up I didn’t have anything like that.

"I just think it’s a really supportive place. It’s something I really wish I had when I was growing up."

Liz took up running a year ago and has been preparing to do a half marathon for the past six months.

"It was something I really wanted to do, to be able to support the youth zone and raise money for them.

"I’m just glad I did it."

Lynsey Buckle, development manager at Carlisle Youth Zone, said that the funds were welcome.

She said: "It’s absolutely fantastic. It’s part of what we do.

"We’re a charity, we don’t receive money from local government, from the government. We have to survive by ourselves.

"People doing amazing things, like running half marathons, is always going to be so needed.

"Any funds that we raise are just going to keep the doors open, keep the services here for the young people."

You can donate to Liz's fundraiser here.