HOURS of training are about to pay off for a community paramedic who is taking on the London Marathon for Hospice UK.

Kate Briscoe has been a paramedic for 24 years, and joined the community team in Devizes two years ago.

After being rejected from the original ballot, she was successful in gaining entry in January, giving her just four months to train.

Ms Briscoe, 54, from East Chisenbury, near Pewsey, said: “I am not a natural runner and feeling older with every run. But this is really my way to give back and say thank you to the hospice services.

“I see them at work during my role as a community paramedic and so I see the amazing work they do.

“My goal is to run and walk my way round the course and make it across the finish line. I have completed one long run which was 22.5 miles.”

She is raising cash for Hospice UK and has already raised £620 towards her £2,000 goal.

A Calne man is also running his first London Marathon in memory of his dad, who died before his wedding day.

Richard Smith will be taking part on Sunday to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, after his dad Philip died in January 2014 following a heart attack.

He said: “His death came completely out of the blue, he had just been voted senior captain at Marlborough Golf Club, which he loved and where he played religiously, and he was really excited for my wedding that summer. I know that he really wanted to be there and it saddens us all that he also never got to meet any of his grandchildren.”

Mr Smith decided to take up running after his father’s death, and has lost over four and a half stone in the process. He said: “I know how proud my dad would be of me taking on the London Marathon. A lot of his side of the family have come out in support since I’ve started fundraising for this and I’m hoping to raise over £1,000 for the British Heart Foundation.”

Catherine Parfitt from Corsham will also be running the London Marathon in aid of Combat Stress. Mrs Parfitt, who suffered a stroke in 2009 and had major surgery last year, decided to run in memory of her friend’s son Marc, who returned from Afghanistan with PTSD and died of a heart condition last year.

She said: “said “I want to give something back for everything Combat Stress did for him.”

Giono Zabeo, 46, from Patney, near Devizes, will be running to raise money for Children with Cancer UK after the death of a friend’s five-year-old son from the disease.