Friends running seven marathons in eight days

Two runners who became friends after their loved ones died from leukaemia are attempting to run seven marathons in eight days to raise money for the charity that brought them together.

Kate Walford from Guernsey and Laura Coleman-Day from Lincolnshire did the Guernsey marathon on Sunday and are now running from Lincoln to London for the capital's marathon at the weekend.

They are fundraising for the Anthony Nolan charity which matched stem cell donors for Coleman-Day's husband Xander and Walford's friend Mark.

Coleman-Day said: "We've got the mental endurance to get through hard stuff... and remembering why we are doing it will drive us through, two lives tragically lost too soon."

Coleman-Day said: "Mark received his transplant but sadly the stem cells didn't have time to work their magic and Mark passed away from infections before Xander had even started to get sick.

"Xander also received his transplant, four years after Mark passed away, this time the cells did get a chance to work, but devastatingly they were working too well and Xander passed away from graft versus host disease.

"Two lives tragically lost too soon."

Walford said the "crazy challenge" was to mark the seven years she has been fundraising for the Anthony Nolan charity in her husband's memory and it would have been the Coleman-Day's seventh wedding anniversary this year.

The pair has raised about £80,000 for the charity in the past few years.

Last year Coleman-Day ran the final few miles of the London Marathon wearing her wedding dress, with her friend alongside her.

This year she is going one step further: "This time I will run the whole marathon in my wedding dress and I hope to persuade and pressure Kate into wearing a bridesmaid dress."

Coleman-Day added: "We have begun to realise that Mark and Xander had a lot of similarities.

"They were both the life and soul of the party, kind and thoughtful with a wicked sense of humour.

"They have brought us together to talk each other into silly challenges and push us on through the tough times.

"There is no other way to thank the charity team for what they did for us," she added.

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