The muddiest fun run in the county saw 200 people turn out to raise money for the Leicester Mercury LOROS Appeal.Participants got dirty and exhausted yesterday as they tackled obstacles in mud and water in the woodland grounds of Brooksby Melton College's Spinney Campus. It marked a successful return for the Farmyard Frolics run, after it failed to go ahead last year.

Sam Cook, 35, from Groby joined a team from her village which had been training for the event on a British military fitness course. The sales manager said: "It was a gorgeous day out to be honest, but very, very slippery. My trainers were very black and wet by the end of it. You certainly feel it on your legs but it was a great atmosphere. Friend Terry Cook, 25, a company director who also lives in Groby, said he had been doing the military fitness training course three times a week since October so was up for the challenge. He said: "My calves were a bit sore by the end. And I was a bit wet after wading through a brook and a big dirty pond."

Organisers hope the event will have raised up to £5,000 towards the Leicester Mercury LOROS Appeal launched in November with the aim of helping the hospice raise the remaining £450,000 for its £2m extension, which opened in October.