THE father of a York boy who died from a serious heart defect is to undertake a gruelling 24-hour marathon across the north of England to raise money in his memory.

To mark the first year since the death of three-year-old Alfie Oliver, from Clifton, his dad Rob will tackle The Wall, a 69-mile race from Carlisle Castle to the Millennium Bridge in Gateshead, which roughly follows the line of Hadrian’s Wall.

Rob will be pulling on his running shoes on June 22 in the hope of raising as much money as possible for Martin House Hospice in Wetherby, where Alfie died in June last year.

Rob said: “I’m doing this, first of all, to mark a year since Alfie died but I also want to raise money for the staff at Martin House, who deserve our support.

“They are worth every penny”.

Rob said he will be attempting the “expert” version of the race, which means he will attempt to complete it non-stop, in under 24 hours.

“I am in training and have been doing a bit of fell running recently. The single-mindedness Alfie showed has been a great inspiration to me and I’m determined to complete the race.” Alfie died only weeks before his fourth birthday after being born with a major heart defect, requiring immediate surgery.

His determination through major surgery and gruelling daily medication saw him nominated for Child Of The Year in the 2009 Press Community Pride Awards.

Meanwhile, his mother, Tracey, won The Press Supermum title after being nominated by Rob, for her care of Alfie, which saw her give up her job to look after him full-time.

If you would like to sponsor Rob, go to his Just Giving web page at justgiving.com/RobOliver