Six ferry workers completed a 75-mile relay run, raising just over £17,000 for charity so far.

The DFDS staff arrived at Dover seafront all the way from Newhaven via Romney Marsh.

They reaped £1,703.25 to date, double their target.

The money was for Breast Cancer Now and each runner covered 13 miles.

Stephen House was the first to take off , leaving Newhaven at 3.30am last Friday and coping with the steep climb of Beachy Head.

Clive Allon covered the second leg, from Eastbourne to Bexhill, then Jonathan Uden took the pink baton, going to Hastings and Pett Level.

Jesper Christensen took over and Andrew Meek crossed the border into the Kent side of Romney Marsh.

Alex Ledger left from Hythe, negotiating the steep Dover Hill at Folkestone, which took him to the clifftop at Capel-le-Ferne.

The six joined together for the final leg to Dover, arriving at the seafront at 4pm.

All of them work at Dover Eastern Docks or DFDS’ local offices the White Cliffs Business Park in Whitfield. Most live in Dover and Deal.

More money is expected to come through the completed collections at its offices and ships and the company will match the final sum raised.

The relay run was part of a wider program of activities by DFDS to fundraise for Breast Cancer Now.

This also includes donating £5 on Dover-France ferry crossings booked before Thursday, November 30.

Breast Cancer Now is the UK’s largest breast cancer charity, dedicated to funding research into the illness.

More women are surviving but more are being diagnosed than ever.

Every 45 minutes, another woman dies from the disease.

Bernie Nolan, the charity’s head of corporate partnerships, said: “We believe that by 2050 everyone who develops breast cancer will live.

“it is with the fantastic support of companies like DFDS that we can continue to fund cutting-edge research to help put a stop to breast cancer once and for all.”

You can still make a donation to the six runners by visiting justgiving.com/companyteams/DFDSChannelChallenge.