Sporting experts at Roehampton University of Surrey are set to lend a helping hand to runners entering the 2003 London Marathon.

The runners will be raising cash for Farnborough's Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in the marathon on April 13.

To help them prepare, they will be meeting with experts at one of the country's leading centres for sporting advice and testing, based at Roehampton.

On February 7, Jackie Dabinett, sports lecturer, Olympic athlete physiologist and ex-national level marathon runner, and Bridgitte Swales, international triathlon coach and physiology lecturer, will hold a master class for the runners.

Jackie, who is also an adviser to Sport England and director of the university's sports performance assessment and research centre (Sparc) said: "This is a chance for first-time runners to pick up some top tips from the experts, and for those with experience to find out how to improve their performance."

Jackie and Bridgitte will spend the evening at Sparc's state-of-the-art laboratories discussing training, nutrition and performance.

"Anything you want to know about the run, we'll be on hand to answer," they said.

Sparc is a sporting and fitness consultancy based at Roehampton and was launched in September 2002.

It offers physiological, biomechanical and psychological analysis of athletes and sport enthusiasts' fitness and performance.

Facilities

Set within the university's School of Life and Sport Sciences, it is one of the UK's leading academic sport science centres, offering training to the Professional Footballers' Association and soon the Lawn Tennis Association and has extensive facilities and state-of-the-art equipment.

It is staffed by the university's lecturers and trainers, many of them leaders in their fields.

Many of the larger charities entering runners for the marathon offer full training and preparation programmes an impossibility for a small charity such as the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice.

"Sparc's help is very welcome and will make all the difference for our runners," said Claire Walker, community fundraiser for the hospice.

"We have a team of over 14 this year and they are all training hard and looking forward to getting some advice from the experts."

q For more information about the evening or about Sparc, call Jackie on 020 8392 3541 or contact the School of Life and Sport Science, Roehampton University of Surrey, Whitelands College, West Hill, London SW15 3SN.

January 30, 2003 09:30