KAY CHIVERS has the miles in her legs after months of preparation for a sporting event that’s making her as nervous as any of her major table tennis finals. On 24 September, Chivers, the island women’s table tennis champion, joins upwards of two thousand serious and fun runners on the start line for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

‘It’s only just hit me now what I’m actually doing,’ she said.

Chivers is confident of achieving her double goal of finishing and raising thousands for her chosen charity, MS.

‘I’ve done two 20-mile runs, but it’s been hard trying to fit in all the training.

‘I’m looking to do it in between four-and-a-half and five hours.’

Chivers, who flies out to Canada on 16 September to see friends and finalise her preparations, said that she wanted a

new challenge.

‘MS is a charity I feel strongly about.

‘There are three main kinds of MS I know of – relapsing remitting, secondary progressive and primary progressive, the last being the most aggressive.

‘MS can be a cruel disease like so many others and can affect very young people as well as old.’

All the money raised from her charity marathon will be staying in the island to benefit MS sufferers and carers.

‘I know the amount I raise won’t be a fortune, but if it helps one or two people, then it will have been worth all the hard work.’

* Anyone wanting to sponsor Chivers can contact her at The Moorings, Rue de la Battee, Vale, GY3 5NP.

The bank account set up specifically for her charity run is: Mrs K. M. Chivers Marathon Account, code 20-35-32, no. 60858633.