A partner, manager and client from a Norfolk accounting firm are training to take on the London Marathon to raise money for a cancer charity.

Martyn Benstead, partner at the Fakenham office of Stephenson Smart, will be joined by Neil Gayton, a manager at the company’s Kings Lynn office and Steve Eke, a client of the firm, to take on the 26-mile run in the hope of raising £10,000 for Prostate Cancer UK.

The marathon is on April 22 and each of the men are attempting it after losing family members to prostate cancer.

Mr Benstead said: “Neil is a very accomplished runner, so it was a no brainer for him and Steve is a long-term client of the firm, who has become a friend.

“I’ve been running about two years and it started because I was overweight and I was doing very little exercise.

“My son was 12 at the time and we started to go to park runs, but I found out quite quickly that I couldn’t keep up with him. It’s a fantastic community venture and I began to lose a lot of weight.

“I’m doing the marathon because I like a challenge and I really want to raise a lot of money for a fantastic cause. I’m up to 21 miles at the moment, but I’m saving the big push for the day.”

The trio say they are aiming to complete the marathon in less than four hours but Mr Gayton said it will be a daunting task given that he also took the Brighton Marathon on April 15.

He will be raising money for the prostate cancer charity having lost his grandfather to the disease.

“I’m going to be doing two races in a week, so it is going to be very difficult, but I’ll do my best,” he said.

“I’ve always wanted to do the original marathon in Greece so that could be an aim in the future.”

Mr Eke, who runs TYM International, a tyre importer in Kings Lynn, said he was doing it after losing his father.

“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. There are 40,000 new cases diagnosed a year, so it is really important to highlight the signs of it and raise money towards its research.”

To sponsor Mr Benstead, visit his Just Giving page here, for Mr Gayton click here and for Mr Eke, click here.