THE Hearts First Wyre Forest 5k event attracted a bumper entry of more than 560 this morning.

The event, backed by the Shuttle/Times & News, started and finished at the Callow Hill Visitor Centre and raised thousands of pounds for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

BHF event organiser Louise McCathie said: "It has been a fantastic success. We set our sights on beating last year's entry but we have done better than we ever dreamed.

"It means that our target fo raising £20,000 this year looks like being achieved, although we will not know how much sponsorship runners managed to raise for a a few weeks yet."

Entrants ran, walked or jogged the course through the beautiful Wyre Forest. Some were serious runners, while others were family groups who even took the chance to wheel their pushchairs or walk the dog around the course.

First home in a time of 18mins 52 seconds was Mitch Blundell from Cannock, closely followed by Wall Heath runner Ian Mansell in 19 minutes.

Last year's inuagural race attracted 400 runners and raised just over £12,800 for the BHF.

Full details of today's event and a picture gallery featuring many of those takign part will feature on this website tomorrow.