Those of you who know me will know I'm crazy about animals and passionate about their welfare. One cause particularly close to my heart is ending the use of animals in laboratory experiments. In 2016, nearly 4 million animals were used in experiments in the UK alone, the majority involving mice, but also hundreds of thousands of fish, rats and birds, over 3500 dogs, 2440 primates and many other species including horses, donkeys and cats. This year I decided I wanted to challenge myself while raising funds to help replace the use of animals in medical research, so I've signed up to the South Coast Challenge to raise money for Animal Free Research UK. This amazing charity fund cutting edge, human-relevant medical research without the use of animals and their ultimate goal is to develop a range of non-animal research techniques that will make the use of animals obsolete. Past and present research projects cover a range of diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes and brain tumoura.

The challenge involves a continuous 100km (62.5 miles/2.4 marathons) hike across the South Downs with no sleep and only a few minor rest stops.... I am aiming to complete it within 26-30 hours and finding the thought of it pretty daunting at the moment! 

If the thought of me limping in pain during and probably days after the event isn't quite enough to encourage you to donate, I've also decided to match your donations pound for pound for another cause close to my heart - Unite to Care, who negotiate the release of laboratory animals - up to the first £250 :) So please dig deep and help me to raise money for two amazing causes!

Thank you xxx

And here's a little more about Animal Free Research UK...

"We are driving ethical, evidence based research to fight, prevent and cure human diseases. And we’re doing it by investing in the most innovative research which focuses on humans without the use of animals. We are creating a future where animals are no longer used in medical research, where scientists focus on new techniques which are human relevant, giving better outcomes for everyone, people and animals alike. With your amazing support, we can advance human health and end the use of animals in medical research, forever."