More than 250 skaters are expected to take part in a 24 hour charity skate at Dunsfold Park in Surrey on April 10 to raise money for ShelterBox and the relief effort in Haiti.

Skateboarders, inline skaters and roller-skaters from around the country will join Jack Cousins on the track — whose idea it was originally — and they'll be joined by skaters from France, Holland and as far away as the USA.

Thirteen-year-old Jack from Bude, is a keen skateboarder who recently asked his mum, Jo, what he could do to raise some money for Haiti. Also a keen skater, Jo suggested that together they should try to skateboard for 24 hours non-stop. Jack would try to beat his own personal record of skating 50 miles in one go and together they would raise some money for charity.

They contacted Dunsfold Park Limited and the team there saw the potential of a much bigger event. Jo and Jack quickly sent out messages via the internet to the skating world inviting other skaters to join them and at the end of the first week over 100 skaters had already signed up to join them.

Jo explained: "There are many skating forums on the internet, and the word is spreading fast, we have roller-derby girls coming from all over the UK, including teams from Cambridge; Leicester; Birmingham; South Essex; Bedford; Wakefield; Nottingham and London, racers are coming from the London Speed Skating team in training for the Le Mans 24 hours.

"There will be longboarders gunning for a new British record and to break the 200 mile barrier and we even have skaters coming to join us from France, Holland and the USA."

Jack added: "I'm aiming for 100 miles and I'm hoping to raise lots of money for Haiti."

All money raised through entry and sponsorship will go to ShelterBox's relief effort in Haiti, and the skaters will be raising as much as they can for the cause.

ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity that provides emergency shelter to those affected by disaster worldwide. As momentum builds, more skaters are getting involved and the money raised for Haiti continues to grow.

Jo continued: "None of this would be possible without the very kind and generous support of Dunsfold Park Limited.

"When they invited us to organise a mass skate event I had no idea that we could achieve so much. Jack and I had hoped to raise enough money to send just one ShelterBox to help the people in Haiti, but now we have 250 skaters lining up to join us on the track who knows how many we can send!"

She added: "We're very grateful to Dunsfold Park for making this event possible, and we're very pleased with such a great response from the whole skating community."

For more details of Skaiti visit the website http://www.skaiti.webs.com">www.skaiti.webs.com