A south west crime correspondent who decided to run a marathon as a way of gaining some post-pregnancy fitness is taking on the capital’s famous race next Sunday.

Express and Echo reporter Liz Webb, left, is looking to raise £2,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust as a friend’s two-year-old son suffers from the disease.

The charity funds research into a cure and raises awareness about cystic fibrosis which affects 8,000 people in the UK.

Liz will be running with her husband after being plucked from thousands of applicants in the online ballot.

She said: “This time last year I had just had my son Thomas and decided to enter the London Marathon as a goal because I was feeling so unfit.

“It’s so hard to get a place that I never actually thought I would get one until the congratulations pack arrived through my letterbox in October.

“I know that it’s going to be really tough but we are running for Joshua and I hope that will spur me on to the finish.”

Cystic fibrosis is the UK’s most common life-threatening inherited disease and over 2m people in the UK carry the gene that causes it.

Meanwhile, former South Wales Echo editor Alastair Milburn is running his fifth marathon in memory of his friend and legendary Welsh broadcaster Bob Humphrys who died from cancer in August aged 56.

Alastair will be tackling his fourth London Marathon for Cancer Research Wales, not only for Bob but also in memory of his sister Roxanne who died from the disease aged 40 in 2006.