Shropshire Star

'I ran my radio show for 55 hours to raise thousands for mental health - and I'm not finished yet!'

A radio presenter running a marathon 55-hour charity show has more than doubled his fundraising target.

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Chris Lane, from Newport, has raised more than £2,100 for mental health charity Mind UK after completing his broadcast last weekend.

The 25-year-old supermarket worker set out to beat his hero Chris Moyles and his 52-hour show which the former BBC Radio One presenter completed for Comic Relief.

Broadcasting on Ngage Radio and across social media platforms - including TikTok, where Chris has almost 50k followers - the radio presenter hoped to raise £1,000 for charity.

But Chris raised more than double his target, which he is delighted about.

He said: "The broadcast was fantastic.

"I actually thought that I felt a lot better than I thought I would. When we got to the end and the 55-hour mark, I felt over the moon.

"Maybe it was the adrenaline that got me to push on.

"I didn't even get to halfway and we'd already achieved raising £1,000 and we must've got into the 45th hour and it was at that point where I said to the producer that I thought we could reach £2,000.

"The amount still going up and people have said to me that they are still going to be donating.

"It’s an incredible amount for MIND, they're doing so much fantastic work.

"Coming away from the show, I've had so many messages from people saying that they didn't realise that Mind did.

"I’m super pleased with the amount, and pleased people have come away learning more about Mind."

The Waitrose worker had previously completed 24-hour and 36-hour charity broadcasts, raising money for the NHS and Mind, and went one step further to complete the 55-hour show and break his own broadcast record.

Despite being extremely tired after the show, Chris isn't ruling out another lengthy broadcast for charity.

"I went home straight to bed and I slept for 14 hours.

"When we finished the show, within seconds people were asking what's next.

"I’ve got nothing on the cards yet. But, I think I could've done a bit more.

"For the cause, for Mind of course I would. I can’t say I've got anything planned, but whatever I can do to raise funds for them then maybe I will.

"Maybe after a few days' rest, or a couple of months. But, this definitely won't be the last thing."