News editor Alan Williams will be putting his best foot forward with the aim of raising £10,000 for charity, when he takes part in the London Marathon next month.

Alan, who works for the Somerset Standard and Somerset Guardian, will be running in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust - the organisation WHICH funds research into the life-threatening condition he has suffered from all his life.

He said: "I am under no illusions about what I am trying to do - running 26 miles would be difficult enough if I didn't have CF, but trying to raise so much money at the same time makes things even more difficult."

Alan, (25), is currently spending much of his time contacting potential sponsors and is training with the help of his friend Andrew Hennessy, a former Great Britain under-23 athlete.

And although Alan had never run more than 10 miles before taking on this new challenge, he is confident that he can complete the 26.2 mile course on April 18.

He said: "For years I have sat in front of my television on a Sunday morning in April and watched the thousands of brave souls pounding the streets of London and I have often thought how fantastic it would be to one day join them.

"My other motivations are the personal achievement and the thought of the inspiration that completing the marathon could give to others with CF.

"Some of them cannot go anywhere without oxygen and get out of breath walking up a flight of stairs - even fewer can contemplate running a marathon and only a handful of CF sufferers have ever done so."

The money that Alan raises will go towards the CF Trust's target of £15m, money which will be spent on genetic research into the disease which is the nation's most common genetic condition.