One marathon is clearly not quite enough for Andrea Fraquelli. The 26-year-old is preparing to run four in eight months.

First up, the London marathon on April 17, followed by Berlin in September, Chicago in October and New York in November. Mr Fraquelli, operations manager at the Metropolitan Restaurants Group, will be raising money for Norwood. He tells People: "I wanted to set myself a challenge that did the charity and the people sponsoring me justice and which would also be an achievement that I could be proud of." He hopes to raise £10,000.

He is most worried about the London Marathon. "It is quite soon after an injury setback that has affected my training. As a result, I may struggle to hit the 2hrs 50min that I had aimed for. However, I think I am on course to run all four marathons in under 3hrs and I expect to run my fastest in Berlin, as the course and conditions are normally ideal for fast marathon running. New York is considered the most demanding of the four."

Mr Fraquelli, who lives in north London and has completed five previous marathons, is currently running between five and seven times a week. "This normally takes me to an approximate weekly amount of 60 miles. I do however spend a lot of time on my bike as I cycle to and from work and use it to get around.

"My regime consists of trying to eat a rounded diet. To run and cycle as much as I do means I consume a lot of carbohydrates, normally at lunch time. Pasta is my favourite and working in the restaurant business means I'm never short of a good plate."