A FATHER and son have raised more than £11,000 for charity after completing 900 miles of canoe races in a year.

Andy Toms, 50, from Bulwell, and his son Kurt, 23, raised £11,233 for When You Wish Upon A Star.

The cash will be used to pay for 16 sick children to go on the charity's annual trip to Lapland to see Santa, taking place on Wednesday.

Andy said: "You can't buy what we have had this year. It has created memories we will never forget.

"I have been fortunate and so has my family, but some of these sick children don't have the chance to make these sort of memories.

"I just wanted to give something back."

The father and son duo began training in November 2010.

They competed the Waterside Series – four races totalling 34 miles – in March this year.

Two weeks later, they completed the 125-mile Devizes to Westminster non-stop canoe race.

The gruelling trip, which didn't take in any breaks, took them 24 hours and 23 minutes.

Tom, a print engineer, said: "It was really tough, your body wants to shut down.

"You are facing your own challenges, your own personal fatigue and it is all about the mental strength."

The pair then completed a 70-mile race in a home-made raft made out of scaffolding poles and oil drums in the Wye Valley, before travelling to Canada to take part in the Yukon River Quest – the world's longest annual canoe and kayak race covering 460 miles.

They completed the race in 50 hours and 38 minutes, and came first in the two man category.

Kurt, an apprentice plumber, said: "The best part of it was the three days training before we started. We saw grizzly bears, bald eagles and moose."

They finished their challenge by completing 133 miles of the River Trent in two days in August.

Tom said: "It wasn't a race, it was a personal challenge – we wanted to start and finish in Nottingham."

The duo raised money through personal sponsorship and events, such as a barn dance they organised.

They trained five times a week, getting up at 4am to fit it in along with working full time.

Tom said that the best part about the experience was growing closer to his son, but said it was tough competing in endurance races every four weeks.

"It was gruelling, you can't push your body that much," he said. "But we did it to raise money and we met some wonderful people on the way.

"It only hits home when you speak to people that you have done something special."

Kurt added that they had made the challenge deliberately tough, to encourage people to donate more money.

"A lot of people said that they didn't think we were going to do it all and then when we did, they just gave us that little bit more," he added.

Maggie Falconer, East Midlands community fundraiser for When You Wish Upon A Star, said: "The money that they have raised is absolutely amazing.

"To take each child and a guardian to Lapland costs £700, so the money that Andy and Kurt have raised we will grant the wishes of 16 children to see Father Christmas."