Steward Sean Brown is leaving friends at the Cowley Workers' Social Club behind this week to brave the streets of New York.

Mr Brown, 28, of Boswell Road, Cowley, is to run the famous New York Marathon on November 5.

He will join 35,000 runners from all over the world. The run will take them on a route from the Statue of Liberty, over the 13,000ft Verranzano Narrows Bridge, into the streets of Brooklyn and over Brooklyn Bridge into Queens and Harlem, to finish in Central Park.

No stranger to long distance running, Mr Brown completed the London marathon in five hours 27 minutes earlier this year.

He said: "I wanted to do the New York because it's very exciting."

Mr Brown hopes to raise 1,700 for the charity Get Kids Going, which provides mobility equipment to disabled children.