MARK Downer is getting ready to run the Brighton Marathon on Sunday.

The 46 year old from Liphook is running the event for the first time to raise funds for Coeliac UK, the national charity for people with coeliac disease, after his three-year-old daughter, Megan, was diagnosed with the disease two years ago.

He wants to raise money to help with early diagnosis, especially in children.

Mark said: “I am running to raise awareness and to raise funds for Coeliac UK because we saw what a devastating impact it had on our daughter when she was only a year old and quickly and dangerously started losing weight with daily pain and sickness.

“Megan has a very severe reaction to gluten and she was lucky to be diagnosed in just a couple of months because as a family we recognised the symptoms since her great grandfather also had coeliac disease. We now know many people who were not as quick to get a diagnosis because they didn’t know the symptoms. Anything that can be done to raise awareness and speed up diagnosis, especially in children, is important to me.”

Mark added: “I ran the Great South Run in Portsmouth in 2014 and raised £305 for Coeliac UK, but this is my first marathon and training is going extremely well. I started off with a target time of under four hours, but now I am hopeful to break the three-and-a-half hour mark, at least that’s what I’m hoping for.

“To date I have raised £200 and hope to break £1,000 come the big day. I am very happy to do my bit to raise awareness of coeliac disease.

“If it means just one more person thinks it’s worth getting tested as a result then that would be fantastic.”

Coeliac disease is a serious autoimmune disease caused by a reaction to gluten. When the protein found in wheat, rye and barley is eaten, damage to the gut lining occurs. There is no cure or medication for the condition – the only treatment is a lifelong, strict gluten-free diet.

If someone with coeliac disease doesn’t stick to a gluten-free diet, the disease can lead to other conditions such as malnutrition, osteoporosis and small bowel cancer.

To sponsor Mark, send a text message to 70070 with the code MDOW 77 £5 (or any other amount) or visit justgiving.com/Mark-Downer3.

Meanwhile, a Scout?leader in Petersfield is hoping to raise £2,000 for the Scout Association by running the London Marathon next weekend.

Helen Coyte, who plays rugby for Wasps Ladies, will be pounding the streets of the national’s capital next Sunday.

She said: “I grew up in Liphook and am a Scout leader for the Petersfield District as well as a school teacher. I have taken on a gruelling training programme to ensure I can participate in this year’s London Marathon.

“Having played rugby for Petersfield rugby minis, I considered myself to be reasonably fit, making regular appearances for Wasps ladies in the women’s rugby premiership over the past seven years.

“However, I have found running completely different to any sport I have done before, and the task of getting myself from a struggling five-kilometre runner on a Saturday doing park runs to a medal wearing marathon finisher is quite a challenge.”

She added: “I have taken part in the Fleet half-marathon and hope I can convince myself doing double that distance will be possible.”

The Scout Association helps provide vital start-up funds for impoverished areas to create and sustain new scout groups, creating new opportunities for children and young people who need it the most. 

Helen added: “I want young people across the UK to have the same opportunities and benefits from Scouting I have had, no matter where they are from.

“The Scout Association also supports impoverished areas outside the UK and I have seen this at first hand at the World Scout Jamboree where Scouts helped to fund fellow Scouts from countries less fortunate then us to attend this major event.

“I went to Zambia, where UK Scouts funded and supported the building of new classrooms and toilets in a very remote part of the country.”

To sponsor Helen’s marathon efforts for the Scouts, visit uk.virgin moneygiving.com/helencoytescouts.