A HAMPSTEAD shop owner hopes to be chuckling all the way to the finish line of this year s London Marathon to raise money for Children with Leukaemia

A HAMPSTEAD shop owner hopes to be chuckling all the way to the finish line of this year's London Marathon to raise money for Children with Leukaemia.

Nicholas Roseborne, 22 from of North End Road, will be running in a Mr Happy running vest on April 13 in a bid to raise more than £10,000 for the children's cancer charity.

He was prompted to pound the pavements after his brother Jake, 17, was diagnosed with leukaemia four years ago. This year he has become extremely ill through the disease and is currently being treated at the Royal Free hospital.

"I've wanted to do the marathon for a while now, but when my brother came out of remission it gave me the drive to do it," said Mr Roseborne, who owns computer shop Computer Matters in Finchley Road.

"I've done general running before but this is the first big run I've ever done, so it will certainly be a challenge."

Mr Roseborne will join more than 1,000 runners who are taking part in the charity's Mr Men and Little Miss running team.

He started training over a year ago and hopes to complete the marathon in less than four hours.

Although he has already raised more than £4,000 Mr Roseborne aims to at least double that amount in sponsorship. He has previously raised £3,000 for the charity when he cycled from London to Brighton four years ago.

Caroline Blakely, head of running events at Children with Leukaemia, said: "We are enormously grateful for all the hard work, commitment and determination shown by Nicholas and all our runners to help ensure that vital funds are raised for our fight to save young lives."

Also representing the charity will be six mascots sweating it out in huge Mr Men and Little Miss costumes. They will be cheered along by groups of supporters with balloons and banners who will gather at several points on the route.

If you would like to sponsor Mr Roseborne please visit www.bmycharity. com/nicholasroseborne. For more information about Children with Leukaemia visit www.leukaemia.org.