CORNISH comedian Steve Heller is cutting down on pasties and lacing up his running shoes for the Eden Project Marathon next month.

Camborne-based Steve, who runs the Cornish News website and Facebook group, is known for his Cornish-themed rap parody videos.

Steve said: “I chose to run the marathon for Children's Hospice South West as it's such a great cause and they do an amazing job.

“I'm really looking forward to getting out on the Eden course and especially love running the wooded sections. I'm hoping to complete it in under five-and-a-half hours, which isn't fast but my aim is to just make it round in one piece!”

Nearly 2,000 runners are taking part in the 2018 Eden Marathon and Half-Marathon, the ninth time the races have run. Registration for the event closes on September 30.

Steve has been running for a decade and completed eight marathons, including the Eden Marathon and London Marathon twice each.

He will also be supporting CHSW when he runs the Classic Quarter, a 44-mile ultra-marathon from the Lizard to Land’s End in June next year.

The charity runs Little Harbour hospice near Pentewan as well as Little Bridge House in Devon and Charlton Farm in Somerset.

Steve chose it after holding a vote on the Cornish News Facebook page.

Steve’s regime includes a strict diet of less than 2,000 calories a day for six days a week, with a seventh day of eating whatever he wants, particularly pasties and fried chicken. He aims to lose a stone in total by race day.

Steve has offered his training tips for other pasty-loving runners in this video https://youtu.be/uhMHK54v1bk.

Also running is journalist and former professional cyclist Daniel Stewart, who is aiming to complete the marathon in under three hours and is documenting his training in a regular column in the Irish Times.

Eden will also be hosting runners from Switzerland, Germany and Belgium.

The Eden Marathon and Half-Marathon take a challenging but beautiful route through mid-Cornwall’s Clay Country, taking in the sights of the breath-taking Luxulyan Valley, Helman Tor and the Clay Trails, with the finish line in the shadow of Eden’s iconic Biomes. The race is organised in collaboration with St Austell Running Club.

The races are now free of single-use plastic, part of Eden’s steps to drastically reduce single-use plastic across all its operations. Runners will be encouraged to bring re-usable bottles and recyclable paper cups will be given out at water stations along the route. Organisers estimate that this will prevent the use of 15,000 plastic cups and 2,500 plastic bottles each year.

All runners are given a can of St Austell Brewery’s Tribute ale and a pasty at the end of the race and friends and family of runners can have free entry to the Eden Project to cheer them on. Runners also get a medal and technical race t-shirt.

Last year’s Eden Marathon was won by Adam Holland from Dunsford in Devon while Isobel Wykes from Probus in Cornwall was the fastest woman. The win for Isobel cemented her place as Eden’s most decorated athlete with four victories to her name.

Peter Le Grice and Lesley Locks were the fastest man and woman in the half-marathon, with each of them landing their third win in the race. Peter, from Penzance, was the first UK runner to finish the New York Marathon the following month and Lesley, from Fleet in Hampshire, broke her own Eden course record by nearly a minute.

For more details or to enter either race by the closing registration date of September 30 see www.edenproject.com