No marathon is easy, but imagine if the first eight miles of the gruelling run led continuously uphill.

Steve Blomfield, of Stoke Holy Cross, near Poringland, will be taking on the steep course of Newry City Mara-thon, in Northern Ireland, on Sunday.

The 46-year-old is hoping his efforts will raise �500 for Chapel Road School, in Attleborough, which teaches children with complex education needs.

Despite having run the Dublin Marathon twice, Mr Blomfield said he is most nervous about completing this one, not knowing how the initial incline will affect his pace.

In a bid to practise for the challenging 26.2 mile route, he has been running up and down the hills of Caister St Edmund to increase his fitness.

He said: 'I'm definitely more apprehensive. A marathon is difficult enough but here you have an eight-mile hill to start with and then you're really not sure how it means you will get on later in the marathon.'

Mr Blomfield, who works at foster carer recruitment and training agency Nexus Fostering, based at Ketteringham Hall near Wymondham, first completed the Dublin Marathon in 2007 and then in October last year.

On his reason for training for another marathon so soon, he said: 'I have never done one for charity so I thought I would do another. Once you have done one marathon you get hooked on it. I like a challenge and training to do it so soon after the last one is a challenge in itself.'

He decided to raise funds for Chapel Road School, where his partner, Ali McBay, works, after volunteering on a residential trip undertaken by sixth-form students last summer.

'It gives them [the students] an opportunity to experience being away from home and doing tasks they usually wouldn't and I thought it was a really useful thing to do.'

To sponsor Mr Blomfield, visit www.mycharitypage.com/MarathonSteve

stephanie.broosk@archant.co.uk