Children show their super side during race to aid charity

Junior Batmen, Spider-men and Supermen took to the challenge, capes fluttering, to raise vital funds for Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin during the Superhero Fun Run in the Phoenix Park yesterday.

Among those taking part was little Saoirse O'Driscoll (3), from Clondalkin in Dublin, who did the course on her bike.

Born with a congenital heart condition, Saoirse is a cardiac patient at Our Lady's Hospital.

Another of the super kids was Louise Shortall (9), from Lucan, who walked the course with mum Tracy to celebrate the end of her chemotherapy, after being first diagnosed with leukemia in 2012.

At the opposite end of the Phoenix Park, there was yet more activity taking place with the fourth annual RE/MAX Walk for Life in aid of the Marie Keating Foundation.

Meanwhile, a group of 6,000 grown-up heroes took part in the Tough Mudder challenge as the world-famous adventure run was staged in Ireland for the very first time - all in a good cause.

Irish runners were put to the test over a 10-12 mile course featuring gruelling challenges such as a greased-up quarter-pipe, the Soggy Bottom, the Kiss of Mud, the Cage Crawl, the Berlin Walls and the Horse Jump Pond.

Exhausted, frozen - but elated - around 500 contestants took part in the challenge in aid of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, raising more than €100,000.

Meanwhile, 170 BT Ireland employees will swap day jobs to man the tills at Irish Cancer Society charity shops on Thursday to raise funds in the second Great BT Charity Shops Challenge.