A DEDICATED runner is signed up to this year’s London Marathon to raise funds for charity.

Alice Parker, of Dedham, will complete the gruelling 26 miles for the Catherine Bullen Foundation, following in her husband Jeremy’s footsteps. He completed the marathon for the charity in 2015.

Alice, who works at Colchester General Hospital as an operating department practitioner, has been running since she was 14 and has completed six marathons, including at Walt Disney World and Las Vegas.

Last year she ran the two-day ultra marathons along the Maldon Salt marshes.

Alice, who is mum to Elizabeth, five, and Benjamin, four, said: “I am very excited to be running the London Marathon for the Catherine Bullen Foundation in 2019.

“Training has begun and I will for the first time be using a proper marathon training plan and I have already done five weeks of training and finished this with a six-mile easy paced run.

“In the coming weeks, the mileage and intensity steps up a gear, in the hope of getting a better time than I have managed before.

“In 2015, my husband, Jeremy ran the London Marathon for the Foundation.

“I hope that with kind donations, sponsors and some bake sales at work, I will be able to raise lots of money for the amazing work of the foundation, which over the years has funded a number of crucial projects in the Omaheke region, which is a remote region in Eastern of Namibia and the benefits to these local communities are immeasurable; ranging from building a primary healthcare clinic to providing bore holes for fresh drinking water.”

The charity was founded in memory of Catherine Bullen a medical student studying at Bristol University, who died suddenly from severe gastro-enteritis in August 2002 aged 22 at Oshivelo in Namibia.

Since then her parents, Roger and Linda, and their supporters have worked tirelessly to raise funds to provide health and educational facilities in the Omaheke region of Namibia.

Roger Bullen, of the Catherine Bullen Foundation, said: “We are thrilled that Alice is running the marathon for us. All the money raised will help fund the foundation’s current project which is the construction of a multi-purpose hall at Omuhaturua Primary School to provide a facility for school functions which are currently held outside, a sports and recreational area for the hostel children and an asset for the village such as a venue for an indoor market and community activities.”

To sponsor Alice, visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/aliceparker7/1