Former Burnley soldier prepares to battle Manchester Marathon

Dad-of-three Daniel Fort (38) will tackle the race on April 8th in a bid to raise money for the Justice For Dads charity.

The former infrantyman of 16 years in the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, formerly the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment, left the Army in December 2013 and now works in a primary school as a teaching assistant.

He said: "My reasons for making the decision to do the marathon are that firstly it has been on my ‘bucket list’ for quite a few years now and in conjunction with that I wanted to do it for a good cause or charity.

"I made the decision late last year after personally receiving support from the group. By talking to family, friends and colleagues I was pointed in the direction of a non-profit charity group on social media named Justice for Dad.

"It is a campaign and support group which aims to bring much needed change to the way family law procedures are conducted and for parental alienation to be recognised as a form of child abuse. Both parents should be treated equally and have the same rights.

"I have never done a marathon before so I am expecting it to be hard work, although I have been training since last year."

Daniel, from Harle Syke, has so far raised around £600. To help sponsor him visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/justicefordad