RUNNERS Gillian and Stephen Geoghegan are off to tackle the New York Marathon to buy a young boy a special wheelchair.

Staff nurse Gillian, 39, who works at Burnley General, is a relative newcomer to running, but she has been pounding the roads around Thursden Valley since she got the bug after her husband ran in the London Marathon.

They decided to raise money for the Whizz Kids charity after learning about its work and were asked if they could come up with around £600 for a cerebral palsy sufferer called David.

The 11 year old lives in Rochdale and cannot walk. His sister, Jodie, is eight years old and is blind.

Said Gillian: "We want to raise as much as we can with sponsorships and I was thrilled to bits when the people at the gym at the Reactive Club in Cross Street, Burnley, offered to donate ten courses of ten tanning sessions as a raffle prize.

"It was a very kind gesture, and support like that has kept me going through training sessions up the hills.

"New York is relatively flat, so I hope the stamina we are building up will stand us in good stead."

Stephen, 40, works in the transport department at Smurfit, and is a keen fell walker. His training schedule involves carrying heavy packs on 20 mile hikes.

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