RUSSELL Chesters, who works at the Stretford branch of the fast food giant McDonald's, is preparing for a fundraising challenge he can really get his teeth into.

The 46-year-old will walk nearly 40 miles in the middle of the night to raise cash for Ronald McDonald House.

The sponsored walk will take him from the outlet where he works to McDonald's in Liverpool in a bid to raise funds for the Manchester-based facility.

The charity was set up to support families with sick children in hospital.

Russell said this help is vital at a difficult time and families who use the service are offered "a warm and welcoming environment."

He said: "Having a sick child can impact families across all areas of their lives. Time, money, stress, loss of education and loss of earnings are but a few of the ways in which families can be affected by their child being cared for in hospital. We work with families to allow them to focus on supporting their child and do our utmost to lessen the other stresses."

The walk takes place at the ungodly hour of 3am on February 28 and Russell, from Poplar Road, insisted there's 'method in his madness.'

The customer care assistant said: "I wanted to start at 3am as this walk takes around 13 hours to complete - it's totally gruelling. But the early start will get me into the city whilst a lot of people are still around shopping, its to try and create some kind of awareness."

Russell has previously raised cash for Alzheimer's Research and the British Heart Foundation. He said he's been working hard to get in shape for his latest charity challenge.

He said: "I've been jogging 25 to 40 miles a week to prepare, Iv also had to watch what I eat, its ok to have treats but not all the time. Getting the right information on what I need to eat before and after a run was easy as its all over the internet."

* Anyone interested in support Russell should visit justgiving.com/38milewalk) and sponsor me there or you can just text RCRM94 TO 70070.