A GEOGRAPHY teacher is running Sunday's Newport Half Marathon in memory of her school friend Steven Lewis, who died of stomach cancer aged just 31.

Mr Lewis, who was a lifeguard, was cared for by St David's Hospice in Malpas and his mother Jackie has since raised £22,000 in aid of the charity. A water feature now stands in his memory there.

Now family friend Kate Waters, who has taught at their former school St Julian's for nine years, is donning her running shoes again after having daughter Annabelle, two, and trying to raise at least £100 for St David's in the process.

Running the Pontypool 10k on February 23 was a warm-up for the half marathon.

"I hope it's not too hilly," she said. "I ran the Cardiff half marathon before I had my daughter, but have done no running at all in between.

"In October I did the 5km Park Run at Tredegar House but walked most of it! Then I joined Lliswerry Runners and have built up the distance from there."

Ms Waters' mum Gill Shaw and Mrs Lewis are family friends and Ms Waters is supporting Mrs Lewis to reach her target of £25,000 for St David's Hospice.

"Jackie works so hard to raise money and is so close to her target," she said. "When I thought about running I thought it would be a really good charity to help and to help Jackie reach her target."

Mrs Lewis said: "It means a lot to me that Kate is running in memory of Steve because she knew him for most of her life.

“The fact she would want to do this in his memory because she knows the link our family has to St David’s is amazing. Sometimes with this sort of thing people tend to drop off the radar, but with Steve it just seems to be getting bigger and this proves it.

"Kate is wonderful and she has always been so supportive of our fundraising," she said.

Mrs Lewis and her husband Brian are sponsoring Kate in her run. To donate to Mrs Lewis' total, visit www.justgiving.com/Jackie-Lewis31