THE father of Violet-Grace Youens says that hitting the road on a series of challenges is helping him as he endures the grief of losing his daughter .

Glenn Youens announced last month that he would be taking part in 10 different events this year in memory of his daughter Violet-Grace.

The four-year-old was killed in March last year after being struck by a hit-and-run driver on Prescot Road.

The events will raise funds for The Isabella-Rose Foundation and Violet-Grace's Gift - which is page set up by the family aimed at promoting organ donation in Violet's memory.

His first event was The Heaton Park Half-Marathon on Sunday, February 4 – which he completed in one hour 54 mins.

Glenn said: “The half marathon was great, difficult but great as there was one hill that made it harder than I thought it would be and we had to cover it four times.

“I struggled at parts of the run but I felt like Violet and my mum, who died 23 years ago on the day of the race, was with me. It’s usually a hard time of year for me, but this year with losing Violet-Grace I was worried it would be even harder, so it was great to have something positive to focus on.”

Glenn says that road running helps him as much as therapy, adding: “Every run or event I do from now on is not only for Violet but it’s about trying to show my son Oliver no matter what life puts us through we must look around us and see the people closest to us and make sure we can get through it as strong as we can for each other.

“The team at the Isabella Rose Foundation have been a great support. I finished line with Geoff Parr (Isabella Rose’s dad).”

To donate visit bit.ly/2B27nNX.