Hundreds of fundraising runners braved wind and rain at the weekend to take part in the second annual runway run for the region's mercy team of the skies.

Officials from the East Anglian air ambulance hope to have topped the �10,000 raised last year after about 150 people of all ages and abilities took on the 5km course at the Norfolk Gliding Club on Saturday.

Some of the entrants donned fancy dress for the run, held on the wartime runway at Tibenham airfield.

They included Father Christmases, the '118 men' from the directory enquiries service adverts and characters from The Incredibles.

The event now looks set to become a permanent fixture on the Norfolk fun-run calendar. The crew of the Anglia One air ambulance started the race on Saturday evening.

And Hannah Clay, south Norfolk fundraising manager for the charity, said all the money generated would go towards keeping its helicopters in the air.

'We are really chuffed with how many people turned up considering the weather. We are really pleased to see some new faces this year and, hopefully, they will come back next year,' she added.

The fun-run followed a short memorial service at the former US Army Air Force base to mark the anniversary of the 445th Bomb Group's notorious Kassel Mission on September 27, 1944, in which 39 B-24 Liberator aircraft left the airfield and only four returned.