MORE than 800 people jogged, walked or ran the 10k Bolt around Blenheim Palace to raise an estimated £30,000 for the British Heart Foundation.

Runners enjoyed brilliant sunshine on Sunday as they made their way around the palace grounds for the event's fourth year.

The Bolt was a huge success last year, with 750 people raising £26,000, which helped fund pioneering research at Oxford University, five BHF nurses who care for heart patients across the county, and a life-saving piece of equipment for young heart patients at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Funding from the Bolts has also helped to pay for two leading BHF professors and many researchers at Oxford University to continue research into the causes and possible treatments for heart disease.

Many of the people taking part in the run at the Woodstock stately home had lost loved ones to heart disease or were supporting relatives with heart conditions.

Susie Legg, 24, from North Leigh, near Witney, said: "My dad Steve, who is 58, has a pacemaker, and the lady who teaches me horse-riding has had to stop because she has had a pacemaker fitted as well.

"My dad's problems are hereditary and there are a lot more people who have heart problems than you think."

Paul Courtney, 37, a father-of-two, from Ambrosden, near Bicester, said: "I've got high blood pressure and my dad David died aged 39 from a heart attack when I was 12.

"He was a fit man when he died and I wanted to do something to support this excellent cause.

"I have run 7.2 miles around the villages to train for this and I'm hoping to get round in under an hour."

Garrett Nagle, 47, a geography teacher at St Edward's School in Oxford, said he was running in memory of his father Dan, who died from a heart attack at the age of 57.

He added: "When you are younger, you think heart disease is something that happens to other people but then you realise that it can be a time-bomb ticking away, and how crucial the vital research is.

"My father and his three brothers all died from heart disease between the ages of 55 and 63."

Mr Nagle was running with fellow St Edward's teacher David Finamore, 48, from Summertown, and his wife Rosemary, 46, who used to manage a shop for the BHF in Frome, Somerset.

Jaz Samrai, 27, and 14 other members of her family, from Slough, were running in memory of her grandfather Keval, who died aged 75 from heart failure three weeks ago.

Ms Samrai said: "We got 15 T-shirts printed with his name on - we want to do whatever we can to help and we are hoping to raise £1,000."

Oxford University researchers for the BHF also took part in the run. Anna Michell, whose PhD is funded by the charity, said: "Providing sponsorship or taking part can help to fund research into all areas of heart disease which will inevitably, directly or indirectly, affect most people at some point in their lives."