THE Maggie's MegaHike has been cancelled with just four weeks to go because of a lack of interest.

The event, which was due to take place over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 24 and 25, sees hikers cover up to 50 miles from Wallingford to Marlborough.

But while the two previous years' MegaHikes were a success, organisers of this year's event were unable to recruit enough participants to make a profit.

Event manager Sharon Campbell-Martin said: "We are very disappointed. Money raised by MegaHike was to help towards the building of a permanent Maggie's centre in Oxford which will provide a range of emotional and practical support to the thousands of people affected by cancer in the region.

"But I would like to reassure people that this decision has not been taken lightly and has been made with our participants and centre users' best interests at heart.

"Maggie's is a small and growing cancer support charity and in an increasingly competitive charity events market, and in the current financial climate, it is key that we take decisions based on return on investment."

Ms Campbell-Martin added: "We hope that MegaHike will return in future years to be the success we know that it can be."