A GROUP of Exmouth women are substituting Christmas drinks for training liquids as they prepare for a long run to raise money for charities.

Clare Medlock, Lorraine Kirby, Cally Rowland-Lapwood and Kay Douglas, will all take part in the Goofy run in Orlando, Florida, on January 8 and 9..

The group of friends from the Exmouth Women’s Running Network will run one and a half full marathons through Florida’s Disneyworld.

Clare is raising money for The Alzheimer’s Society, Cally, for Exmouth Hospiscare, Lorraine, for Breast Cancer awareness and Kay for an African charity.

They will pass through the enchanted kingdom and wind up at the iconic Epcot centre.

Clare, 45, of Marpool Hill, speaking about her training preparations, said: “I swing from being excited to absolutely terrified depending on how training has gone in that particular week.

“This is quite awesome for us as we have only been running for about four years and up until eighteen months ago we had only ever run 6 miles. We are all in our forties and this event will not be easy.”

Running through the surreal surroundings of Disneyworld will be made even more unusual by the fact that the event starts at 4am to avoid the worst of the Florida heat.

Clare is determined that there will be a really positive outcome from her challenge which she and her friends have funded themselves.

Asked why she chose to support the Alzheimer’s Society, Clare added: “I am witnessing an adopted family member going through the early stages of dementia and seen the impact it has on family and friends.’

Adrian Williams, community fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Society, said he was delighted Clare had chosen to support the charity.

“To fly to Florida in order to run nearly 40 miles at that time of day is a fantastic commitment. Her efforts will help us to support more people live well with dementia.

“In particular, her fundraising will help support our Exmouth Memory Caf� and to set up our new Singing for the Brain group.”

To sponsor Clare, visit the following website address at: www.justgiving.com/clare-medlock

And to sponsor Lorraine and Cally, visit their Just Giving website addresses at: www.justgiving.com/lorrainekirby and www.justgiving.com/callyrowland respectively.