An army of tri-athletes will be a tackling a tough course in the Cromer area this weekend.

They will swim 2.4 miles from West Runton, cycle for 112 miles along the coast, then finish off with a 26.2 mile marathon finishing at Cromer.

New recruit and north Norfolk resident Mark Hilton has been training weekly for nine months - doing up to 12 hours of running, cycling and open water swimming.

The group marketing manager for Anglia Farmers is doing the event for a trio of good causes.

They are: Walking with the Wounded, which supports ex-service people finding careers outside of the military; Medical Detection Dogs which alerting their diabetic owners and even detect cancer; and 16-year-old Alfie Hewett from Acle who has become a junior tennis champion despite a string of debilitating health problems.

Mr Hilton said: 'I'm in no doubt that the competition will be extremely hard but I am prepared for the challenge. Plus the very worthwhile causes I am raising money for, will spur me on and hopefully towards the finish.'

To support him visit justgiving.com/teams/mark-hilton or email any sponsorship for Alfie to Becky at fourhiltons@btinternet.com