Farmer will run the London Marathon in tractor costume

And a farmer from Gainsborough will be taking on another challenge as he has chosen to complete the 26.2 miles wearing a tractor costume.

Craig Williamson, 49, completed the marathon last year and has decided to do it all again on April 22, this time while wearing a Massey Fergusson 565 costume, which is almost 6ft tall and 8ft long, as well as raising money for the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.

Craig is also aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon run while dressed as a heavy goods vehicle. To do this he will need to run the marathon in less than four hours and 55 minutes.

Craig has already smashed his fundraising target of £2,500 with nearly £4,000 raised for the charity.

To support Craig visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/craig-williamson4.

Also running the marathon is primary school teacher, Tim Smith, 36, from Walkeringham. Tim took up running two years as a means to get fitter, ease stress and raise money for charity.

Tim said: “I am trying to raise awareness of the work the British Red Cross does in this country and for the chromosome disorder called Trisomy 9p.

“My son, Eli, was born in October 2015 and even before he was born we had concerns about his growth and development. Once he was born the doctors took a blood test and ran some genetic tests.

“The test came back and showed Eli had Trisomy 9p which basically means he has an extra bit of Chromosome 9 in addition to his normal set of chromosomes. Within our network of families with Trisomy 9p we know of about 100 families word wide with this condition.

“Although Eli is now two and half he has only recently started to walk and is still not communicating through speech. Lack of speech is a common trait with the condition.

“In spite of his condition he is very cheeky and loves to stack duplo bricks. He also as a strong bond with both his brothers, Theodore, aged six, and Xander, aged one.

“In terms of the future we are unsure how Eli will progress but as this is a life long condition he will need support for the rest of his natural life.

“To date we know of 100 children in the world with this syndrome. It affects his development both physically and mentally and although it is not a life limiting condition it will affect him for the rest of his life.”

Tim says he has always wanted to run a marathon and chose to support the British Red Cross to thank them for their support and help with supplying equipment for Elijah.

Tim said: “Throughout his life he has been supplied with chairs to help his posture when sitting, bath supports to enable him to enjoy bath times and a bed system to help his posture when sleeping as he has a tendency to arch and sleep in a C shape which, if not corrected, could lead to back problems in later life.

“I will be honest, before we received all this equipment I thought the British Red Cross did a fantastic job helping people in other countries and I didn’t quite understand the great job they did in this country too.

“So I’m running to raise awareness of the job they do helping families like mine and in gratitude to the help they have already given to us and the help we will certainly need as Eli gets older.”

To support Tim visit www.uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TimothySmith9p.