NELSON businessman Chris Chatburn has enjoyed the build-up to this weekend's Great North Run so much it may have inspired him to take part in the London Marathon.

Chris, 29, of Holden Road, Reedley, has never competed in a half marathon before, but during the last few weeks has been training regularly for Sunday's 13-mile race.

He is hoping to complete it in about two hours and will be raising money for the Pendle branch of Leukaemia Research.

He said: "My auntie is secretary of the Pendle Branch and she put a sign up about running for the charity in the leisure centre at the Oaks Hotel, where I am a member. I have always kept fit and when I moved to Holden Road at the end of January I got in to the running, but it's only in the last two or three months that I started training for this.

"I feel prepared for it and am looking forward to it. But it's a different thing on the day, when you don't know what the weather is going to be like. I'm hoping to do it in two hours or under. I'm doing for charity so that's the incentive."

Chris, a general manager at the family business Acorn Fabrics, in Nelson, will be supported on the day by his wife, Joanne and 15-month-old daughter, Jessica and has already received £500 in sponsorship.

He said: "If I achieve this and, depending on how I feel at the end of it, will be whether I decide take part in the London Marathon."