CHILDREN put their best foot forward to help a fundraising marathon-mum.

Mother-of-three Jane Potter, who lives in Lindley, is pounding the streets in a series of charity runs.

She aims to raise thousands of pounds for the Joseph Salmon Trust by running the equivalent distance from Huddersfield to Rome throughout the year.

Jane has already received massive support from family and friends in her fundraising quest – and now children from Lindley Infant School have sprung into action to give her mission a huge boost of more than £2,000.

All 360 children in the school took it in turns to jog and walk around the playground and as they took part in the sponsored event, Olympic Games-inspired music played out. Jane took part with her children Katie, six, and James, five, who attend the school.

The occupational therapist, who has daughter Hannah, nine, at Lindley Junior School, said: “They had a great time, they all took sponsorship forms home to their families to ask for money. One of the children went home and said that they had done it with the famous woman who runs hundreds of miles a day!

“My children were very proud and wanted to hold my hand all the way around.”

The youngsters raised an incredible £2,800 and a special assembly was held to celebrate.

Thanks to them Jane, 40, has now raised her fundraising goal for the Marsh-based Trust to £5,000.

The charity helps bereaved families cope with the financial burden of losing a child.

Jane and her husband Tim lost their second baby Rebecca in 2004, when Jane was 22 weeks into her pregnancy.

The couple later became friends with Neil and Rachael Salmon, whose three-year-old boy Joseph passed away a year later.

Neil asked Jane, a member of Stainland Lions running club, to take on a race on behalf of the charity and while she was out running one day Jane decided to do something even more special in honour of both her lost child and the charity.

She said: “This idea just got bigger and I decided to run 25 miles each week for a year. Across the year this added up to 1,300 miles – which we worked out was the equivalent of running from Huddersfield to Rome.”

As part of this Jane is running in an official race every month of the year. This kicked off with the Meltham 10k in January, followed by the Huddersfield 10k in February and the Dewsbury 10k in March.

April was race free for Jane after she suffered some heel pain, but she made up for this in May with the Leeds Half Marathon and Manchester 10k. In June Jane pounded the streets of Hull, followed by a 10k race in London this month.

Later in the year she is planning races including the Liverpool Marathon and the Great North Run in Newcastle.

She said: “The atmosphere at the runs is great. When I see that someone has donated something – whether it’s £2 or £50 – it gives me a real buzz. It makes me feel great that people still want to help in this financial climate. I feel really inspired by their support.”

Jane, who works for the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, hopes that the huge wave of support for her fundraising will continue.

She said: “We didn’t need financial support for a headstone, but we know what these families are going through and I wanted to turn my emotions into something positive. If through this I can raise enough money to help one family, I’ll feel like I’ve done something good.”

To support Jane in her fundraising visit: www.justgiving.com/jane-potter1