A SON and his wife are running their 100th marathon in memory of his mum, who died in September last year after becoming paralysed following an accident abroad.

Nick and Diane Armstrong have organised the marathon challenge, which has been approved by UK Athletics, as a way to pay tribute to Nick’s mum, Valerie Harrold, who was also an avid long distance runner.

Unfortunately, Valerie’s running career was cut short after a walking accident in Austria in 2013 which left her with a life changing head injury. She became paralysed from the neck down which also caused her to lose part of her sight and the ability to swallow.

The couple were hoping to raise money at the event, which will be held at Bentham Golf Club near Lancaster, for Leonard Cheshire’s Holehird care home in Windermere, where Valerie resided for four years before she died.

Together, the trio had founded the Bentham Beagle’s running club in 2011 to encourage other local residents to take up the sport.

As a runner Valerie came out with a number of impressive achievements as she partook in some of the major marathons around the world, including Berlin, Boston, London and New York.

She was also a lover for the outdoors, walking from John O’ Groats to Lands’ End, to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and hiking up to Everest Base camp.

Talking about her big achievements, Diane said: “Valerie encouraged both Nick and I to start running marathons, so she would have been extremely proud of us for continuing and reaching 100.

“We felt that it would be really nice to mark the occasion with a special one-off marathon in Bentham.”

Nick and Diane are trying to raise more than £1,000 each for the care home.

With more than 100 homes in the UK Leonard Cheshire’s Holehird care home provide for thousands of disabled people with housing and quality care.

Staff help support individuals to live, learn and work as independently as they choose, whatever their ability.

Diane said: “It is really great that we can combine this milestone with raising money to support Leonard Cheshire Holehird, a place that helped Valerie so much during the four years she lived there.”

Entries are still open for the marathon, which is on May 18.

Starting and finishing at the golf club the challenge is run over a single lap on undulating country roads.

The run starts at 9am.