A WOMAN and her son are both running the London Marathon – but for different charities.

Alison Knights, 46, and son Adam, 19, both decided to run on April 22.

Childminder Alison, who works from her home in Heath Road, Colchester with husband Phil, chose Children with Cancer UK as her charity.

She explained: “Fortunately, I have not come across any children with cancer, but I have some adult friends going through cancer treatment themselves.

“Knowing how difficult it is for them, it must be so much harder with children.

“Being a childminder, it is quite close to my heart, so I thought it would be good to combine the two.”

Adam, a music student at the Colchester Institute, settled on the deaf-blind charity, Sense, to benefit from his 26.2 mile effort.

He said: “I just thought it was a really good cause.

“Out of all of the charities, I felt it was the most deserving of the lot. I am excited and anxious, it is such a massive thing and a bit scary. It’ll be well worth it though.”

Mum and son say training is going well, even if the recent snow disrupted their individual exercise plans.

Alison said: “Because Adam is quite tall, and I’m not, he runs at a different pace to me, so we go out on our own routes.

“He has a proper training plan, but I just fit it in when I can.”

The pair are both also entered the Colchester half marathon as part of their training.

Adam said: “I don’t have a target time. I just plan to finish.

“Training is fitting in surprisingly well with my studies, which helps a lot.”

l To sponsor Alison, visit www.justgiving.com/alison -knights and to sponsor Adam, go to www.justgiving.com/adam-knights0