ON your marks, get set, go! - Fifty women from Herefordshire Council will be putting their best feet forward in the name of Cancer Research UK on July 20.

Council workers from various departments have banded together in a show of strength to take part in the Race for Life event at Hereford racecourse, adding to the ever-growing list of applicants preparing to take part.

From public relations to personnel, staff across the board will take up the challenge to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Twenty-nine-year-old Melissa Walker, is running in memory and celebration not only of friends and family who have died from the deadly disease, but also those who have conquered it and come out the other side.

Melissa, who works in the enabling and housing needs section at Herefordshire Council, initially found out about Race for Life through Hereford Leisure Centre.

She said: "It is the first thing we have done for Race for Life but we all did a sponsored famine for Children in Need so we are becoming pests around the office asking for sponsorship!

"We did look at doing it last year but the nearest venue was quite a way away."