A GROUP of friends will walk the length of the London Marathon dressed as belly dancers to raise cash for breast cancer charities.

Bewdley Rowing Club members, Serena Gammond, Emma Hinton and Sue Page, all 42 and Jane Trickett, 38, will take part in the Playtex Moonwalk event, which follows the same course as the London Marathon, on May 15.

The women will power walk 26.2 miles from midnight and are hoping to complete the course in six and a half hours.

They decided to take part in the London event as Mrs Page, of Tiverton, near Worcester, is currently in remission from breast cancer after she was diagnosed with the disease six years ago.

Mrs Gammond, of Trimpley, said: “We all know somebody who has had breast cancer so we thought it would be a good idea to do it.

“We’re hoping to raise as much as we possibly can and we’ve set £500 targets each.”

The belly dancing outfits they will be wearing will be gold and bright pink to symbolise breast cancer.

“We chose the belly dancing costume because we wanted something that would make us look like a group rather than individuals,” said Mrs Gammond, “We felt that we needed to do something that was a little bit different.”

She added that a combination of rowing and running training would get them in shape for the walk.

“We’re taking part in the Evesham Regatta before the race,” she said, “We’re confident that we will finish the walk. We don’t do anything if we can’t do it.

“We’re just hoping that the weather’s not too cold and it’s not raining.”

People can sponsor the women by logging on to walkthewalkfundraising.org/serena_gammond