Kate Owen, of Siskin Close, Bushey, hopes to raise at least £1250 for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), a charity that supports those who have lost young loved ones to undiagnosed heart conditions.

Every four to eight weeks a seemingly fit and healthy young person will die of SDS.

Kate an ex-gymnast at Woodside Gymnastics Club and former pupil at Bushey Hall School, lost her friend James Ganley to the condition in 1998 while she was studying sport and exercise science at Northumbria University in Newcastle.

The 26-year-old said: “Typical of most of these cases, James was a sporty young man who seemed the picture of health.

“He had previously played football professionally and still played regularly.

“He died suddenly of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy the day after he had completed the university football team trials.  This specific condition is the most common cause of sudden death in the under 30’s.”

Miss Owen, who works at the British Olympic Medical Centre at Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, first became aware of CRY through her job as an exercise physiologist.

Research manager at the centre Doctor Greg Whyte is chairman of CRY.  He will be running the marathon on Sunday, April 13, to raise money for the charity, which aims to raise awareness of cardiac risk in the young and to put in place a national testing programme to screen and diagnose conditions.

CRY donates medical equipment to doctors’ surgeries and hospitals and supports medical research into young sudden cardiac death.  It funds the CRY Centre for Sports Cardiology at the British Olympic Medical Centre where Miss Owen works.

To sponsor Miss Owen e-mail kate.owen@boa.org.uk.