A POLICE officer is set to run this weekend’s London Marathon, and raise thousands of pounds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Sergeant Paul Cording has been with North Yorkshire Police for 16 years, and with the Road Policing Group for the last seven years, and had hoped to raise £500 for the Air Ambulance, but said the donations - now totalling more than £3,300 - had been “amazing”.

Sgt Cording, 45, said: “I’m absolutely gobsmacked at how generous people have been.

“I probably realise more than many due to the nature of my job, the value of the air ambulance, what it brings to our rural communities, not just road traffic collisions but people taken ill in hard to reach places.

“It’s a real asset to peoples’ survival and recovery.”

Sgt Cording said he had run the 251km Marathon Des Sables in the Sahara Desert in 2009, but this was his biggest challenge since then, and training had been going well.

He said: “Like anything, I think getting this close you always think you could’ve done a bit more, but I’m quietly hopeful and confident I’ll have no problems with the first half, as that’s a comfortable distance, and I’ve got family and friends at about the 17-mile-mark, but I’ll have to dig deep for the last slog.”

To support Sgt Cording, go to justgiving.com/fundraising/ OscarRomeo1268

Air hostess Caroline Brown, 32, who works for Monarch Airlines, will also run the marathon tomorrow, along with three colleagues as a four person team in costume - a five-metre long aeroplane. They hope to beat the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon time as a four person team in fancy dress, which is currently five hours 25 minutes and two seconds.

Caroline, formerly of York, is raising funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, and the team is also raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Care Support.

Individually, she hopes to raise £2,000.

The former Tadcaster Grammar School pupil said: “Fundraising is vital to them in providing world class care for poorly children.

“I’m excited about the marathon but nervous at the same time. I have done quite a few marathons before but this is totally different.”

To support Caroline go to justgiving.com/fundraising/MonarchFoundation-London Marathon2017-CarolineBrown or text CABR91 £(amount) to 70070.