A TEENAGER has overcome a fear of rollercoasters to ride on one of Britain's most dreaded attractions.

Katie Hicks, 18, is hoping to ride the nerve-shredding Nemesis at Alton Towers in Staffordshire a stomach-churning 30 times.

And the Helmshore youngster - who last year stepped on to a rollercoaster for the first time since her childhood - is seeking sponsors for the challenge to help cancer sufferers.

Katie, who is to begin an English literature degree at Lancaster University later this month, said she wanted to raise the cash after being touched personally by the plight of cancer victims.

Those she had seen suffer from the disease included an eight-year-old who lost their fight against bone cancer.

Katie got herself in a spin about rollercoasters after being coaxed on to one of Alton Towers' calmer attractions - and she now can't get enough of looping-the-loop and plunging drops.

The £10million Nemesis takes visitors through half a mile of rocky canyon-like terrain. During the three- minute ride the carriages reach a speed of 50mph and people are sent down a 66ft drop and have to stand a pressure of 3.5Gs.

Yet Katie, of Ogden Close, said: "I am looking forward to it. I don't think I will get bored of it. I'll get fairly dizzy towards the end but I think it will be really good fun.

"I have always been terrified of them until last year. I didn't want to go on any of them at all but a friend got me on to one at Alton Towers and I was hooked after that."

The former Haslingden High and Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School pupil will not be allowed to stay on the ride permanently.

But she hopes to get back on straight away by joining a separate queue for people going on the ride alone, which is shorter than the main line.

She said: "I love the thrill of it all. I like going fast round corners the most, though I'm not too keen on big drops."

She hopes to raise £300 for Cancer Research UK and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

Katie said: "It means a lot to me. I know a lot of people who have been treated at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and a lot of people who have been helped by Cancer Research UK. I have been thinking for a while of a way to give something back and this seemed perfect."