MORE than 2,000 women stepped out on Saturday for a two-day, 60km charity walk, to raise funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

And among the crowds were several women from south west Hertfordshire who wanted to lend their support to the cause.

Mollie Potter, 31, of Vivien Gardens, Oxhey, took part in the event, alongside her younger sister, Mary Machin.

Mollie works part-time at West Herts College, while Mary, of Cassiobury Drive, Watford, works at Harefield and Royal Brompton hospitals.

Her role as a perfusionist sees her operate the heart-lung bypass machine, which circulates a patient's blood during open-heart surgery.

Both women had to raise a minimum of £1,500 in sponsorship money in order to participate in the walk, and neither had taken part in anything like it before.

Mollie's training for the event consisted mostly of taking her labrador for walks in the park.

Four other local women, Paula Young, Lorraine and Lucy Miller and Maggie Jeffrey, also took to the streets of London.

The team aimed to raise £6,000 for the charity, but aided by friends, work colleagues and members of the general public, they raised an excellent total of £8,000.

The group rattled buckets on cup final day, packed shopping bags for customers in Marks & Spencer, Watford, and also asked local YMCA members for donations.

Paula said: "It was an amazing weekend, the atmosphere, the camaraderie and sheer determination numbed the blisters on our feet and pains in our legs.

"Even after an exhausting day, we looked forward to four girls spending the night on the ground in our pink tent in Finsbury Park, along with 2,000 others, before setting off for the final day's walk."

The team chose to participate in the event in order to remember their mothers, Linda Cripps and Elsie Pugh, who sadly lost their lives last year after battling with cancer.