MAKE It York staff will team up to race one of their colleagues for charity during this year's Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon.

A team of six will compete against Simon Middleton, the destination management organisation's access to finance and funding manager, during the 26.2-mile York-based race on October 9.

Mr Middleton, who has run all three editions of the Yorkshire Marathon, said: "Earlier this year a number of my colleagues at Make It York expressed an interest in starting running, so I’m now leading groups on Monday and Thursday lunchtimes.

"We are running 5km, which is a fantastic achievement for colleagues who were essentially non runners a few months ago.

"They have now put a team into the Yorkshire Marathon relay where they will compete as a team of six against me as I run the full marathon again.

"The six will be running individual legs of anything from three miles up to six miles on the day."

Eight of Mr Middleton's colleagues are involved in the group - Steph Ward, Gabby Keepfer, Aimee Bennett, Sarah Olley, Debs Bell Laura Freer, Chris Bush and Kim Barron-Smith.

Mr Middleton said: "They are all taking part in twice weekly training runs and the six who attend most frequently between June and Aug will have first option on the six places."

The team has yet to decide on which charity to back.

With their lunchtime sessions proving increasingly popular, Mr Middleton is inviting other runners from across the city to join them.

Anyone interested can follow the Twitter account @York_runners