Lifelong Rochdale fans raise money for children's hospital in Lviv by running around Spotland pitch

Lifelong Rochdale AFC fans have run almost 9km around the pitch at the club's Spotland Road stadium to raise money for a children’s hospital in Ukraine.

Rochdale has been twinned with Lviv since 1992 and friends Mason and Ben came up with the idea of running 30 laps, one for each year that the two places have been connected.

St Nicholas Children’s Hospital in Lviv are trying to raise $1.5 million for medical equipment including an MRI scanner for children.

Rochdale charity Giving Back has been repurposed to help the cause.

Mason and Ben had set a goal of raising £300, but they have already beaten that, raising almost six times the amount - £1,953.

The town twinned with the Lviv after a number of Ukrainians settled in Rochdale, finding work in the town’s mills and factories.

They then wrote to fellow Ukrainians who had not yet settled in the UK, inviting them to move to the North West.

After becoming independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, a year later, Rochdale and Lviv were officially twinned as most of the Ukrainians coming over were from the city.

The money raised will go some way into helping the children’s hospital pay for the medical equipment and they are asking for help from far and wide.

You can visit and donate to Mason and Ben's JustGiving page here.