Two determined runners are camping out at night and running through the day en route to Paris to compete in the city's marathon on Sunday.

Lloyd Hurrell and Simeon Bates, 24, both from Epsom, started the gruelling 177-mile run from London to Paris on Monday in a bid to raise money for Save the Children and an Indian orphanage.

At 4pm today the pair had just finished running for the day and were staggering to a town for food in Northern France, having run the 35 miles from the coast.

By phone from Forges-Les-Eaux, France, Mr Bates said: "Today was just hard work. We have got huge blisters so it takes us a long time.

"Now we are going to have a big sleep."

The men started jogging this morning in Dieppe after having just three hours sleep on board the ferry from Newhaven in East Sussex.

He said: "We passed the halfway mark today."

Mr Bates said they were raising money for an orphanage near to a school where he taught PE in Tamil Nadu, India, between 2010 and June 2012.

Since returning to the UK he has been working towards a personal training qualification while Mr Hurrell currently teaches at St Joesph’s in Cranleigh, Surrey.

Of the adventure, Mr Bates said: "If you are going to do the Paris marathon you might as well jog there to do it. At the time it seemed like a good idea."

His mother Pamela Bates said: "It’s great, a bit extreme. It’s still really cold and they are camping out at night."

Check this website tomorrow afternoon for another update from the runners.

To make a donation go to: www.justgiving.com/SimeonBates.