Valerie's ready for (From Warrington Guardian)

Valerie's ready for

a marathon effort!

A MIDDLEWICH woman will be competing in this weekend's London Marathon - just two years after taking up running.

Valerie Mizzi has always wanted to take part in the world's most famous road race and her dream comes true when she takes to the tape on Sunday.

After years of watching the 26-mile trek on TV, Valerie, of Laurel Close, will be doing it for real in what is only her second marathon.

She said: "I did the Manchester Marathon in October, which was my first one.

"I finished the course in three hours, 54 minutes, so I'm hoping to do this one in under four hours.

"The Manchester race isn't as high-profile as London so this was more difficult to get into, which is why I'm doing it for a charity."

Valerie, who is 43, keeps fit by running a step aerobics class at Dave's Gym in Northwich.

She failed in her bid to enter the 1998 race, and was originally refused this time as well, before going in through the charity route.

She is running for VICTA - Visually Impaired Children Taking Action - and has already hit the minimum target of £500.

Despite having only been a roadrunner for a couple of years, Valerie has no doubts that she will stride across the finishing line - in fact, it's not the finishing that worries her.

She said: "I'll definitely finish the race, it will be getting going that's the problem, with the amount of people trying to get over the starting line.

"But I've always watched it on TV and thought it was something I'd like to do, so I took up running just to do something different.

"I've been training on the street and on the treadmill at the gym, and have already done three half-marathons this year."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.