Team Twitter will be taking to the Norfolk Race for Life track next weekend, hoping to do their bit by raising cash for Cancer Research UK.

The group of about 20 girls and young women, aged from teens to late 40s, have been brought together through the social networking service and will be sporting T-shirts with their Twitter hashtag, #norracechicks, which they use for alerting each other to on-line messages.

And, thanks to one of their number, they have had the pleasure of occasional training sessions in a spectacular north Norfolk setting as tweeter Sarah Gray's home is the National Trust's Blickling Hall, where her husband Kenny is house steward.

'Many of the girls have never run before but, after training, most will hopefully be able to run the whole 5k. Some of them have health problems and will walk the course,' said Mrs Gray, 28, business support manager with CNC Building Control.

The idea of taking part in the race as a group came from tweeter Claire Read, who owns the Poppy Valentine vintage clothing store in Norwich's Royal Arcade.

She has a friend who is being treated for breast cancer, as does another group member, Nicola Tondeur, from Aylsham.

The group expected to find the Race for Life a rewarding but emotional experience and had been giving each other a lot of support, said Mrs Gray who ran a 10k race for Cancer Research UK at the Norfolk Showground in October.

She added: 'It's best not to read the messages on people's T-shirts because it just makes you break down!'

The Race for Life will be held at the showground on May 14 and 15.