The 24 hours of the Le Mans endurance race is one of the most watched events in motorsport, and has been at the pinnacle of motor racing since 1923.

To coincide with the 85th race, Porsche Centre Chester decided to run an endurance event of their own, from the comfort of the Porsche Centre Chester showroom at Cheshire Oaks.

For 24 hours three teams battled it out on three treadmills, generously supplied by Technogym, for the duration of the Le Mans race, all to raise funds for their chosen charities.

Porsche Centre Chester held a 24 hour charity event in the showroom to coincide with the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race

The prospect of running on and off for 24 hours would be enough to deter most people. However, two competitive customers accepted the task and soon had their teams ready to take on the challenge.

Porsche Centre Chester offered a £500 charity contribution to the team which covered the longest distance over the 24 hours.

Nick Wishart volunteered himself and three friends to form a team to raise money for The Christie cancer charity. The challenge of the run was the incentive behind this and coupled with the opportunity to raise money for a charity so close to Nick’s heart, he and his team were eager to sign up and start raising some money.

Chris Collins, John Hammond, Alex Mason and Nick Wishart

Andy Walker gathered a team of six runners and chose to run for Brace, the Alzheimer’s charity. Andy was keen as soon as he heard about the event and he began to prepare for what he later referred to as the toughest endurance event he had ever undertaken.

In addition to the two customer teams, the staff at Porsche Centre Chester couldn’t resist a challenge and made up a team of 24 runners, with each member of staff (and a couple of their partners) taking it in turns to run for an hour at a time. Alder Hey Children’s charity has been important to several members of the team, so was an obvious choice as the chosen charity.

Prior to the event, Stagetex generously loaned two 84” 4K television screens on stands to provide the runners and guests with continuous Le Mans entertainment.

Carl Hazelton (centre principal), Kat Smith (marketing executive) and Allan Eves from Alder Hey

As the teams started to arrive, anticipation was high and everyone was eager to begin their runs. Jaspers Catering kindly provided complimentary food to keep the runners fuelled including delicious sandwiches, pasta, energy bars, drinks, fruit and chocolate.

The event was a huge success and collectively almost £6,000 was raised for the chosen charities.