A TEAM of women from Audlem will undertake a marathon walk next month to help raise money for a cancer charity.

Karen Clarke, Tessa Duncan, Suzanne Baxter and Celee Bebbington will walk 26 miles through the Audlem countryside on October 3 to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

For Karen the walk has a personal meaning, with her fiancé Rick currently suffering from brain cancer and Suzanne having worked for the NHS for many years.

The original plan was to walk the Northumberland Coast Hike and the Peak District Hike as part of the Macmillan Mighty Hikes annual fundraising event.

But these walks have been pushed back to 2021, so the team will instead walk through the local area instead.

Karen explained the reasoning for the fundraiser.

"My brave and gorgeous husband-to-be, Rick, has a very aggressive type of brain cancer which is only treatable with one type of chemotherapy," said Karen.

"Unfortunately this particular drug has been available for almost 10 years now and although we're told that a more effective replacement is 'about to break through' we hope it will be available sooner rather than later.

"Another member of our team has lost several loved ones to cancer and our 'striding nurse' Suzanne has worked tirelessly to care for patients throughout her long career in the NHS.

"As the original hikes have been postponed until 2021 by Macmillan Mighty Hikes organisers because of Covid social distancing restrictions, we have chosen to do our own local route of 26 miles taking in the stunning countryside of Audlem, Cox Bank, Adderley, Buerton, Hankelow, Coole Pilot and Nantwich.

"We hope the money we raise from attempting our 'Cox Strider Challenge' on Saturday, October 3 will enable more resources to become available to help fund the incredible care given by Macmillan Cancer Support."

To donate to the fundraiser, visitwww.justgiving.com/team/CoxStriders