WHEN George Clarkson’s stepfather was diagnosed with a brain tumour, the young rower challenged himself to run the length of the River Thames to raise money for Cancer Research.

Now, three weeks after Phillip Besley’s death and seven months after coming up with the idea, the 23-year-old is preparing to embark on his endurance test.

Mr Clarkson’s run will see him complete the 182-mile course in seven days – a 26-mile marathon every day.

Mr Besley, from Abingdon, lost his two-year battle against an inoperable brain tumour at Sobell House in Oxford in May leaving wife, June, nine-year-old son Lee and step-daughter Gemma Clarkson, 20.

The 47-year-old former engineer worked at the hydraulic research offices on the Thames in Wallingford, where he helped design coastal defences, including those protecting Hong Kong airport, built on the island of Chek Lap Kok by land reclamation.

This August, Mr Clarkson will complete the run in his step-dad’s memory with the goal of raising £3,000 for researchers to find a cure for cancer.

The former Abingdon School pupil said: “I was very close to my step-dad and he will be very much in my mind when I’m running the Thames.

“It’s going to be a lot more poignant running it now because when I conceived of the idea my step-dad was still with us.

“A number of points on the route have a connection with him, like Abingdon and Wallingford where he used to work and I’ll run past his offices.

“I can remember his company used to have a boat and a cruiser and we would go out on that with him.”

Mr Clarkson, who now lives in Caversham, near Reading, added: “He continued working and wouldn’t let the cancer affect him and his life.

“Having a young son, he dealt with it very well and he tried not to let it affect him and our family as much as possible.”

“Even when he started suffering from seizures and he wasn’t allowed to drive he insisted on going to work and my mum would have to drive him into work.”

Mr Clarkson has been running a half marathon every week to get in shape for the event and so far he has raised £2,700 for the charity.

The task will see him set off from the source of the Thames at Kemble, near Cirencester on Sunday, August 15, arriving at the Thames barrier the following Saturday.

His family are hoping to help him raise even more by going out with collection tins in Abingdon when Mr Clarkson passes through the town on Tuesday, August 17.

cwalker@oxfordmail.co.uk

To donate, go to justgiving.com/George-Clarkson-runs-the-thames