WITH little more than a month to go until 7,000 people hit the streets for the Oxford Half Marathon, two runners have been announced as the faces of the event.

Simon Hodkin, from Steeple Aston, was one of two to win the honour after impressing judges with blogs about their training.

He has now been given a camcorder to record his preparations and will continue blogging during the next five weeks as he gets ready to tackle the 13.1-mile course.

International New Zealand triathlete Kris Gemmell has drawn up a personalised training programme for both Simon and fellow winner, Frances Alcock, from Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

Mr Hodkin, 50, has been running for about seven years, but said he has taken it more seriously in recent years following the death of his wife, Juliet, who passed away three years ago after suffering from bowel cancer.

The IT consultant said: “I did it because I wanted to get out and about. It was a very sad time and running does help you combat sadness.

“I found out about the competition and I thought I was a good match.

I am not an experienced runner but I am not a rookie either.

“I do a lot of blogging about my wife’s illness so it seemed like something that would suit me perfectly.”

A member of the Headington Road Runners, Mr Hodkin runs about 25 miles a week and will be increasing that as race day draws closer.

Mr Hodkin said as well as training, he had other sacrifices to make.

The dad-of-two to Lucy, 21, and Alice, 19, said: “I gave up alcohol from yesterday and I am going on the wagon for about a month.

“You put all that effort into the training and you don’t want to think ‘if only I hadn’t had that pint’.

“When you finish the race you look for the nearest pub.

“That pint is really enjoyable.”

His fellow competition winner, Mrs Alcock, is running to raise money for Parkinson’s disease and the Child Funeral Charity, which offers financial support to families who have lost a child.

The 55-year-old nurse said: “Blogging is definitely a new thing for me.

“I am going to do a blog every week to help motivate myself.

“The training is going good really, but I am finding it a little tricky and sometimes it just doesn’t work when you have a family. But generally it is going okay.

“I do about 12 miles a week and I have to build it up over the next few weeks.”

The race, on October 12, is sponsored by PruHealth and PruProtect.

Follow both Simon’s and Frances’s blogs at pruhealth.co.uk /personal/vitality/sponsored-events/face-of-vitality

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