EXMOOR will host two gruelling ten-hour triathlon-style challenges tomorrow and on Saturday (June 1 and 8), aimed to raise at least £300,000 for charity.

Porlock and Minehead will be among the bases for more than 100 teams of four taking part in the massive challenge event organised by food manufacturer Samworth Brothers.

Organisers have booked all available accommodation in the area, brought in local companies to help organise the event and arranged for local buses to provide transportation.

More than £1.9 million has been raised for charity by the six previous events, held in different areas of the country, and it is hoped that the Exmoor charity challenge will break through the £2 million barrier.

Each challenge team has to complete a tough mountain walk, a mountain bike ride and a canoe race, and must raise at least £2,000 for its chosen charity.

A Charity Challenge spokesman said that the three courses – tough, super-tough and elite – in Exmoor national park,would remain secret until the day of the event.

Teams are made up of Samworth Brothers’ employees, customers and suppliers.

The challenge will benefit more than 50 charities including Hospice at Home, Coping with Cancer, and Muscular Dystrophy UK.

Local organisations involved in the events include Exmoor Adventures of Porlock, which is helping to host the challenges, and West Country Blacksmiths of Allerford, who have designed and made five winners’ trophies.

Blacksmiths’ spokesman Kieren Roberts said: “The trophies depict a stag. They are hand-made from steel and mounted on slices of wind-felled wood from the Holnicote Estate to make every part of the trophies truly Exmoor.”