Two school friends are running from Oxford to Paris to raise funds for charity.

Former Burford School pupils Alastair Roberts and Joseph Cooper will run 30 miles a day for a week to complete the challenge for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

The pair will meet at Oxford's Martyrs' Memorial on Saturday, September 20, to set off on their exhausting sponsored run to the French capital.

The total distance is about 250 miles, and the eight-day route will take the pair through Newbury, Winchester and Portsmouth, followed by an overnight ferry crossing to Caen.

Mr Roberts, an engineer at Rolls Royce in Bristol, who is originally from Carterton, said he and Mr Cooper hoped to raise £2,000 for the charity.

He said: "We intend to take eight days to complete the run, which will mean averaging roughly 30 miles a day.

"We will not run the 30 miles all in one go and we will take breaks along the way, but we have to complete the distances we have set each day to reach our accommodation each night.

"I am starting to realise that this is not the best idea in the world, but we are determined to do it. My grandfather suffered a heart condition many years ago, so we thought this was a good cause."

Mr Cooper, 24, from Brize Norton, added: "I haven't run a marathon before but I am confident we can do this."