A RESTAURANT owner from East Yorkshire is embarking on an epic marathon challenge along the Great Wall of China.

Sam Mitchell, who runs The Peppered Pig restaurant and Pig’s Pantry deli, in East Cowick near Goole, with husband Glen, is taking on two half marathons, a nine-mile run and two treks along the famous landmark – in just five days.

Sam will be running 53 kilometers along part of the UNESCO World Heritage site between October 11 and 19 to raise money for the Stroke Association.

She is doing the grueling wall-to-wall run in honour of her dad John Wilson who has suffered two strokes over the last five years.

Charity cream teas, raffles, bake offs and clothes sales at the restaurant have helped Sam raise £3,500 to go on the trip, and she hopes to raise another £1,500.

Four friends and running buddies, Alison Hobson, Sarah Smaith, Tracy Macinnes and 21-year-old Peppered Pig waitress Olivia Sykes, will join her on the trek.

“I simply couldn’t have done the trip without the generosity of our restaurant customers and nursery parents,” said Sam, who will also be celebrating her 45th birthday this month.

“All five of us taking part in the run live within a few miles of each other in a very small community, and yet the surrounding villagers have dug deep to find £3,500 in charitable donations for each of us to take part. They’ve given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I cannot thank them enough.”

Sam, who competed in the Great North Run in 2009, has been training three-times-a-week for the demanding event, but this will be the first time she’s had to run with a backpack.

“I’ll be carrying a rucksack with my protein bars and water with me each day so I’ve literally got to have lunch on the run!” says Sam. “It’s going to be quite a challenge as these flat East Yorkshire roads are no match for the steep inclines and rugged terrain we’ll be experiencing in China.”