A WINSFORD man will run a marathon every week in order to complete an epic 1,000 mile fundraiser for St Luke’s Hospice.

RAF aircraft engineer, Ricky Houston, originally intended to cover the distance in a year, starting in January 2014.

But the 31-year-old is getting deployed to the Falklands in November, meaning he’s had to ratchet up his daily miles quota.

Ricky, who works on Eurofighter Typhoons at RAF Coningsby, explained: “Instead of throwing in the towel, I’ve decided to increase the daily mileage and aim to complete the 1,000 miles in 10 months, which roughly equates to covering a distance of a marathon each and every week until November, or 3.32 miles each and every day.

“If running 1,000 miles isn’t hard enough, I have now decided that I will finish my challenge by running from Lincoln all the way to the hospice over four days, which will be mean I will be running four back to back marathons.”

Now in his seventh month, the former Woodford Lodge pupil has already covered 600 miles, and will return to hero’s welcome in Winsford this November.

“For everyone that knows me, they know I am not built for running, so this is a huge challenge,” he added.

“I struggled to run a mile last year without stopping, which highlights how far I have had to come to enable me to attempt the challenge.”

In 2008, Ricky’s auntie, Karen, lost her fight against cancer.

“It was such a difficult time for the whole family, but somehow St Luke’s brought everyone together and gave us all time that will never be forgotten,” said Ricky.

“The staff were like angels. I will never forget what they did for my family. That is why I am doing this challenge. I want to contribute something back to the hospice to enable them to continue to help families like mine.”

Ricky has raised £1,300 of his £2,000 target.

Donate at justgiving.com/Ricky-Houston/ or by texting RHOU99 and an amount to 70070.