LONDON marathon runners are on the home stretch now as the big day looms.

Runners from Dorset will be pounding the streets of the capital on Sunday.

Angela Clarke, 52, from Emmadale Road in Weymouth is running for the St John Ambulance. She has been a member of the group from more than 10 years.

She said: “I’m hoping to raise about £300 for the charity. All the money will go to help train first aid to young people in the Weymouth St John Ambulance.”

She added: “I would like to thank Lynne Stockwell at Slimming World for helping me to lose 1.5 stone, the fantastic staff at Weymouth swimming pool and The Window Man for sponsoring me with my running gear.”

Sandra Hood, 52, from Dorchester, will be running for Compassion in World Farming, the world’s leading farm animal welfare charity.

She is hoping to run the 26.2 miles in under four hours and raise £1,000 for the charity.

She said: “I like to keep fit and well and show that my vegan diet can help me to be very healthy. I chose to run for Compassion because I want to raise awareness of the plight of farm animals.

“I’d rather no-one ate meat at all, but while most people do eat meat, Compassion is the voice of the millions of farm animals that are suffering. The charity is brilliant at campaigning for farm animals and encouraging better farming practices.’’ Four-times marathon man Eugene Potter, 53, from Poundbury, will be running for local charity Diverse Abilities Plus, which provides a range of support and education services for children and adults with disabilities across the county.

He said he was fundraising more specifically for Coping with CHAOS, an organisation that recently joined forces with Diverse Abilities Plus, which assists families who have children with special needs.

He said: “I’m delighted to be supporting Diverse Abilities Plus as I have had personal experience of Coping with CHAOS and am aware of its fantastic and much-needed support services.

“They provide much needed support for parents with children with special needs.

“Coping with CHAOS provide a physical activities based service but they also have staff who are fully trained and provide one to one support.

“It allows parents to feel confident that their children are being looked after in a physical sense but also in a caring sense.”

He added: “All the major and most well-known charities tend to grab the limelight so sometimes it’s nice to support local charities so you know where the support you gain will be invested.”

For more information about Diverse Abilities Plus please visit diverseabilitiesplus.org.uk or call 01202 718266.

To sponsor Mr Potter visit his Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/Eugene-Potter

Anyone wanting to sponsor Mrs Clarke should call her on 01305 787006.

* DAVID Gateshill from Weymouth will be splitting all the money he raises between for Help the Hospices and Macmillan Cancer Support.

He said: “Everyone knows someone affected by cancer and I wanted to raise as much money as possible for some good causes.”

To sponsor David visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com and search for David Gateshill.