A WOMAN from Richmond is training for an epic swim and mountainous marathon taking place within six weeks of each other.

Steph Cook, 23, a personal trainer from Richmond, decided to set herself the challenges at the start of the year when her friends persuaded her to take part in the Swaledale Marathon, which takes in climbs of up to 4,128 feet.

But for Miss Cook this was not enough, so she signed up for Richmond Pool’s five km swimathon for Marie Curie Cancer Care on Friday, April 26.

She said: “I can swim but it is not a sport I have really taken seriously so I wanted to challenge myself.

“I have been doing a lot of training and making sure I do at least 100 lengths of the pool each time I go – which is about half of what I will do on the day.”

The Swaledale Marathon is just six weeks after her swim challenge on Saturday, June 8, and Miss Cook said she is looking forward to the event despite never having done a marathon before.

She said: “I am more at home running because I have been doing it for a long time but it will be tough – one of the first climbs is a mile and a half long so I will need to pace myself.”

Miss Cook is hoping to take part in a ski marathon next winter so is keeping up her training in preparation for that.

“I used to ski competitively and while I don’t want to do that again I am keen to do a ski marathon for the challenge.”

To sponsor Miss Cook email stepheacook@yahoo.co.uk.