A Douglas woman has completed a 150-mile challenge she set herself in memory of her father.

Sheryl Macleod managed to raise over £3,000 for local charity Heroes on the Water by walking, running and swimming the journey across three months.

She said: ‘I’ve really enjoyed this challenge. It has forced me to take time out of my busy life, it’s very easy to be caught up with work and children but knowing I have to find time to exercise has really helped my own wellbeing.

‘The last walk felt very emotional starting at the cenotaph, where’s he’s stood so often, and finishing at Heroes in the Water. The support I received was incredible.’

The 38-year-old began her challenge on January 1 and intended to finish by the end of this month, doing at least one mile per day.

Having taken it on in memory of her father, Kevin Faragher, she was proud to have finished and felt he would have been proud.

‘My dad hated a fuss or the attention being on him, he’d more likely be the person behind the scenes,’ Mrs Macleod said.

‘I know he’d be so proud of me and my family, particularly his eight-year-old grandson for walking the last mile with me and starting the donations with £10 from his piggy bank back in January.

‘He’d be most proud that I was doing something to look after myself but at the same time as looking after someone else.’

Mr Faragher, who was heavily involved in the military and oversaw events such as Remembrance Day and the military band visit during Tynwald Day each year, died in November.

‘My dad helped everybody, if you had a problem then he would know somebody who could help or he would be able to fix it himself,’ Mrs Macleod said before she began the challenge. ‘He shared his help with everyone, it didn’t really matter who you were.

‘He was my biggest advocate for saying “you need to take time for yourself” and so I think he would be pleased that I was doing something that had a dual benefit – to help a charity but also to give myself that little time out and look after myself.’

She explained this was why she picked Heroes on the Water, saying: ‘Heroes on the Water is really trying to give people that chance to go and relax and take some time out and breathe, looking after their mental health. It was something I felt quite strongly he would have supported.’

Mrs Macleod explained the hardest part of the challenge was fitting a walk, swim or run in every day.

‘That’s an hour of my life I haven’t usually prioritised,’ she added. ‘The weather sometimes wasn’t great, my motivation to go out on a stormy day was a lot less than in the sunshine.

‘I swam a lot less than I had hoped to, managing only a few trips to the pool, the problem with swimming is it’s time consuming for only a little distance.’