MIRFIELD man Dave Brown is preparing to tackle his second marathon.

Mr Brown, 37, of Lower Hopton, made his Flora London Marathon debut last year and raised £3,000 for cancer charity Children With Leukaemia.

At this year's marathon on April 23 he will be supporting the same charity and hopes to beat his fundraising total.

Mr Brown, an insurance company project manager, was inspired to run his first marathon after the death of his 25-year-old sister-in-law, Sadie Hepworth, from cancer in 2004.

The father-of-two said: "I chose to support a cancer charity and thought what better than to help children with cancer.

"I was so pleased with the money I raised last year I thought I'd have another go. At the time I said I'd never do another, but you forget the pain and remember the good bits!"

As well as beating his fundraising total, Mr Brown has two other targets.

The first is to improve on his 2005 marathon time of four hours and 45 minutes.

He said: "It was slower than I'd expected from my training, but I was quite pleased. The main thing was that I finished."

His other goal is to lose more weight through training than the two stones he lost in 2005.

"Doing this is a health kick as well," he said.

"Having a goal like the marathon in sight makes it easier to get off the sofa and go for a run. It's something anybody can do - I've proved it."

If you want to sponsor Mr Brown, donate or pledge online at www.bmycharity.com/v2/dave2006cwl