The charity relay staged by Basildon AC for the Tsunami Appeal raised more than £450.

The brainchild of Bill Metcalfe, the event, billed "Four Minutes Four Life", saw teams of any numbers try and beat the four-minute barrier in a relay.

The four minutes signalled the average time those hit by the Asian Earthquake had to find higher ground after seeing the first giant waves heading for them.

And the event came in the year that marks the golden anniversary of Sir Roger Bannister's first sub four-minute mile on May 6, 1954.

The winning team of four runners were James and Dan Shane, Paul Bumstead and Scott Phillips. They achieved a time of 3 minutes 43 seconds and were very pleased with their efforts.

When Basildon AC her0 Rob Denmark sounded the klaxon to mark the end of four minutes, three other teams had beaten the target time.

Said Bill Metcalfe: "The event was arranged quite late and the night was chaotic, but we were delighted to raise £450."