There were plenty of feel-good news stories in July as we featured emotional stories of testing challenges, with even a family of ducks getting in on the action.

The Comet: Stevenage Race for Life 2017: There was a sea of pink for the warm up. Picture: Simon JenkinsStevenage Race for Life 2017: There was a sea of pink for the warm up. Picture: Simon Jenkins (Image: © Simon Jenkins)

More than 1,500 women and girls donned their pink T-shirts and running shoes to take part in this year’s Stevenage Race for Life.

The 10k course at Fairlands Valley Showground and park on July 9 was a huge success – raising £72,623 for Cancer Research UK.

At the time, Courtney Culverhouse, Cancer Research UK’s Herts events manager, said: “The atmosphere on the day was electric – full of emotions, courage, tears and laughter – as hundreds of like-minded ladies cam together to unite in the fight against cancer.”

The Comet: Anna Everett, 5 takes part in the colour run course at Roebuck Primary School. Picture: Danny LooAnna Everett, 5 takes part in the colour run course at Roebuck Primary School. Picture: Danny Loo (Image: Danny Loo Photography 2017)

Another amazing running effort saw the daughter of a man diagnosed with motor neurone disease take part in a run to raise money for his treatment.

After Scott Everett, from Stevenage, was given the devastating news back in March that he less than three years to live, his five-year-old daughter Anna – a pupil at Roebuck Primary School and Nursery – responded to her dad’s diagnosis by taking part in her school’s Colour Run as part of a series of fundraising events which raised more than £20,000.

Also making the news in July was a Hitchin-born investment banker who became one of only a handful Britons to ever have completed climbing Mount Everest without oxygen.

The Comet: James in the tent following his Everest ascent. Pic: James BroomanJames in the tent following his Everest ascent. Pic: James Brooman (Image: Archant)

James Brooman returned to the UK after scaling the famous peak which had pushed him to the limits of physical and psychological endurance.

Brooman spoke to the Comet shortly after arriving back at Stevenage from Kathmandu about how hard he found it to believe he had just scaled the world’s highest mountain.

The same month also saw a caring 80-year-old hairstylist help rescue a lost mother duck and her nine ducklings in Stevenage.

The Comet: The mother duck with her nine-strong brood.The mother duck with her nine-strong brood. (Image: Archant)

Raymond Brandon and his wife Aila escorted the brood for ¾ mile across busy roads – holding up traffic – and open fields before watching them plop gently into the lake at Fairlands Valley Park.

Raymond described the adventure with the ducks on the busy road – he said “All the cars were stopping and, once they got across, people were winding down their windows and cheering and clapping.”