ORGANISERS of a sporting event on Sunday hope to raise £4,000 for charity.

The Quaker Triathlon, organised by Darlington Rotary Club, will raise money for water supplies in two of the poorest countries of West Africa and equipment for Darlington Memorial Hospital.

The event, in its third year, will be contested by 150 athletes, and will raise funds to help villages in Togo and Benin, and to support the surgical department at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Rotary Club member Keith Gunning, a surgeon, said: "It attracts the top triathletes in the country, and the leading contenders expect to complete the event in under one hour."

The event will begin with a 400-metre swim in Branksome School pool, followed by a 16-mile cycle race involving two laps of a route from the school to Walworth Castle and back, then a threemile return run from the school to the top of the hill in West Park.

Sponsors are Woodlands Hospital, Northumbrian Water, Sherwoods motor dealership and Blackett, Hart and Pratt solicitors.

■ Some roads in the town will be closed to traffic from 7.30am to about 1.30pm.

They are Sherborne Close, Atherstone Way, Woburn Avenue, Malvern Crescent (from its junction with Sherborne Close to its junction with Jedburgh Drive), Jedburgh Drive, Marrick Avenue, Tintern Avenue, Ellerton Close, Hexham Way, Wimborne Close, Newton Lane (from Jedburgh Drive to Walworth), Walworth Road (from Walworth to Walworth Gate), Back Lane (from Walworth Gate to Newton Lane).