TWO friends will test their endurance as they run the equivalent of three marathons in three days to raise money which will help protect our wildlife.

Dan Lambert and Ben Saunders, both from the New Forest will be stepping out of their comfort zone to take on the Jurassic Coast Challenge.

The gruelling task will see the pair run 78 miles over three days from Charmouth, in Dorset along the coast to Studland Bay at the entrance of Poole Harbour.

Even though Dan, 33 and Ben 35 are both keen runners, but neither has tested themselves on a long distance run like this before.

In the lead up to the challenge the duo will be raising money for the conservation charity World Land Trust, whose work helps to save rainforests and wildlife habitats around the world.

Dan, a tree surgeon from Sway, said the challenge will be testing, but the money will help preserve our planet.

Anyone wanting to sponsor them should visit justgiving.com/ben3dan.

“We both wanted to do something for the environment and after doing some research the World Land Trust was the one that hit home the most,” said the father of two.

“We didn’t really put a lot of thought into the idea, Ben just text me if I wanted to do it, and next thing I know its just kind of snowballed and we were in training.

“The Jurassic Challenge will be extremely testing for us because neither of us have ever run this sort of distance before.”

The pair are hoping to raise more than £2,000 towards the charity’s work helping protect the ecosystem of our plant and have already reached half of their total raising £980 so far.

In preparation for this test of endurance, Dan and Ben have been going on 20 mile runs six days a week, so their bodies are used to the long distances.

“The training is and has been hard over the winter months with dark and cold mornings and nights,” added Dan “But it will be worth it in the end.”

Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/Ben3Dan

Dan and Ben will embark on the testing run on March 18.