A father has climbed Britain's highest mountain as part of a fundraising challenge in memory of his baby daughter.

Rob Field, from Arthington, was joined by seven of his closest friends on the gruelling Ben Nevis Charity Challenge last weekend.

The fundraiser involved the team, competing against more than 100 other groups, having to climb the mountain, cycle for 25 miles and canoe across a loch.

Rob and his friends undertook the challenge as a tribute to his daughter Erin, who died last year aged just 14 months after being diagnosed with an extremely rare lung condition, Pulmonary Veno-Occlusive Disease.

And they have smashed the £5,000 target they hoped to hit for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association UK (PHA), with £5,500 already donated and £2,000 more still to come.

Rob, who with his wife Sarah and son, Bailey, has been raising money for the charity since Erin's death in December, said: "We entered this challenge to raise as much money and awareness as we could but, more importantly to

us, it was to keep the memory of Erin in all our hearts.

"The weather conditions were perfect, although the temperature completely dropped at the Ben Nevis summit where there was still a considerable amount of snow.

"It was physically the hardest thing any of us has ever undertaken but, as Tom Armitage stated half way up the ascent: 'if anyone struggles just look at Erin's picture on our T-shirts'.

"The descent was just as difficult, followed by another four mile walk back to the start line to begin the first of two cycling sections. After 15 miles of riding some tough hills to Loch Lochy for a 3km canoe, it was then back on the

bikes for the 10 miles back to the finish line.

"The sense of achievement was fantastic. It was a very hard challenge and to find out we finished tenth out of 116 teams gave us great satisfaction."

The other members of Team Erin were: Ian Dawson, Tom Armitage, Scott Richmond, Andrew Jackson, Jarrod Best, Shane Houldsworth and Steve Cockerham. They are already planning next year's challenge and would welcome any

sponsorship from local businesses.

The team's Ben Nevis triumph, meanwhile, can still be supported by visiting justgiving.com/teams/bennevischaritychallenge .