TWO coaches braved sub-zero temperatures and played tennis in blizzard conditions during a 24-hour tennis marathon.

Jarrod Wood and John Walsh took to the astro turf at Hartford Tennis Club at 9am on Saturday morning and didn’t stop playing until a day later.

Their efforts inspired more than 70 sponsors to so far give more than £2,000 to Sport Relief.

Jarrod, from Winnington, said: “We do play all through the year here at Hartford, but not normally in these conditions.

“We have to thank everyone who sponsored us and those who came out to play with us in the worse conditions possible.”

Their day started with the usual junior coaching sessions on the Saturday morning, but as the day rolled on different club members came down to hit with the pair.

Not even horizontal snow could force them off court as they were determined to complete the challenge.

It started snowing at around lunchtime and continued on and off for the rest of the tennis-a-thon.

John said: “One of the best things to come out of this is it shows what brilliant club spirit we have at Hartford because over 20 people helped out during all hours of the night.

“One of our juniors was even with us at 3am so we have to thank his mum for bringing him down to the club for that.”

As well as playing tennis with John and Jarrod, members also cooked and delivered food for the pair as well as made them hot drinks.

Jarrod, who is also a personal trainer at Movement Performance Academy in Northwich, had set a target of £500 for the challenge, but their efforts took them way past that goal.

In a tribute to the fundraisers on Facebook, parent Cali Hannon Woods said: “Not only will this help those in need, it gave me an opportunity to show my son that real superheroes do exist and what is possible when you put your mind to it.”