TWO colleagues at a south Oxfordshire nature trust will race each other around London later this month to raise money for charity.

The Northmoor Trust's Wild Waste Show manager Annie Cousins and nature reserve manager Chris Parker are running in the London Marathon on Sunday, April 22.

Miss Cousins is running in aid of children's cancer charity Clic Sargent, because a friend's daughter has suffered from leukemia.

She said: "The training is going all right. I ran the Hastings half-marathon three or four weeks ago and a 10km training run at the weekend. Having done a half-marathon last year, I thought 'what's the next challenge?', and the London Marathon seemed like the obvious choice."

Mr Parker will also be tackling the London event for the first time, but it is not his first outing at the 26-mile distance - he completed the New York Marathon two years ago.

He said: "A friend of mine is going through the training to be a Childline call operative and told me it costs £1,500 to train each volunteer. So If I can raise £1,500 for them, that will have paid for her training."

To sponsor the pair, see www.justgiving.com/anniecousins or www.justgiving.com/chris-parker