A RADCLIFFE man will take on his first marathon next month in memory of two family members lost to cancer.

Andy Jones, aged 39, will take to the streets for the Manchester Marathon on April 8 in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support.

Mr Jones, who has never run a marathon before and describes himself as having had a ‘dad belly’ at the beginning of last year, admits he is finding training ‘mentally draining’.

However, he says he is being spurred ahead of the gruelling 26-mile challenge by the support and generosity of friends and family who have donated.

“The amount of support people have given has completely blown me away," he said.

“The training is difficult and it’s mentally draining but because of how generous people have been I have been keeping everyone updated on how it’s going."

The dad of two, who lives in Turks Road, says that his motivation to take on the run was losing two family members to cancer.

He added: “I wanted to do something to help the great work that Macmillan do. This is my way of dealing with various different elements of loss.

“I would like to think they would be proud of what I am doing. I’m a dad of two small boys. I smoked and had a dad belly, but at the start of last year I decided to quit and join a gym.

“I went to the gym three times a week, lost two stone and grew in great confidence so took up running again.”

The gym in question was Durable Fitness, based in Constellation Mill, Radcliffe, and Mr Jones says he wants to thank the gym's manager Dan Smart for not only helping him work on his fitness ahead of the run, but even organising a quiz night to help raise money.

More than 120 turned up to the event at Radcliffe Masonic Hall last month and helped to raise around £1,500, which on top of the money Mr Jones has already raised through JustGiving took his total to more than £2,200.

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andyjonesdoesamarathon.