TWO boys from Brecon have raised just under £1,000 after they took part in the Royal Welsh Trail Running Festival last month.

Best friends Ben Howe and Jack Thomas, both 11, ran the 3km trail race at the event which coincided with the Spring Show at the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd on the weekend of May 19-20, raising £920 for the charity Tenovus Cancer Care.

The two boys, who also ran with Ben’s younger brother nine-year-old Sam, wanted to take part in the run in memory of Ben and Sam’s father, John Howe, who died from cancer in 2011.

Ben and Sam’s mother Catherine Howe, 42, said: “I think both Ben and Jack were staggered – they had set a target of £500 and they’ve just smashed it. It just adds to the list of things that Ben has done to blow me away.”

Catherine said that while Sam did take part in the run, he was too nervous to commit to raising money as it was his first race and he wasn’t sure how well he would do.

The three boys are all pupils at Llanfaes Primary School in Brecon.

Catherine said: “Jack has also lost a family member to cancer and Tenovus were really supportive during that time. Ben learned about Tenovus because they went to speak to them in school and all of Year 6 did an obstacle course to raise money for them.”

Ben had the idea to run the race as he wanted to do something special to celebrate his dad’s birthday, which would have been last Sunday (June 3).

John Howe passed away from a stage four brain tumour in February 2011 at the age of 45 when Ben was only four years old.

Catherine said: “We didn’t actually know he had the brain tumour until he had been in a car crash because he’d blacked out behind the wheel. There wasn’t a scratch on him but they took him in for observation and ran some tests which is when they found the tumour.”

John was transferred from Merthyr Tyfdil Hospital to the Heath hospital in Cardiff. However he died two weeks after the car accident from a blood clot.

Catherine said: “We had no idea he was ill, but I think if he could have picked a way to go then that is what he would have wanted.

“The prognosis was that he only had 9-12 months maximum to live and this meant he didn’t have to slowly deteriorate with me and his children watching.”

Ben came eighth in the race, which featured 42 runners, followed by Jack who came ninth and Sam who came 12th.

Catherine said that the race and the boys’ results were “fantastic” and she was impressed Sam placed at 12th after he was worried he wouldn’t be able to get to the finish. She said: “I’m so proud of both of my boys – and Jack. Both my boys make me incredibly proud and I know their dad would be really proud of them as well.”

She said all three of the boys had “loved” competing and Sam had asked to do the race again as soon as it had finished.

When asked how he found the race, Ben said: “I found it really fun, and I enjoyed doing it with Jack – he’s my best friend. I would like to do more to help again in the future.”

Ben also said that neither he nor Jack had expected to come in the top ten or to raise the amount of money they had through online and offline donations.

You can still donate to Ben and Jack by going to their Just Giving page.