A mum from Ottery will tackle obstacles, barbed wire and a lot of mud when she leads a team on a gruelling 10km running challenge next weekend.

Louise Coward, 35, is signed up for the Rock Solid Race at Escot Park on March 15, with six friends and family, to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

The mum-of-three is taking on the challenge – which is billed as ‘one of the muddiest obstacle courses in the UK’ – with the aim of collecting £1,000 for the blood cancer charity.

“I knew I wanted to raise money for them, and I thought I’d do something a bit different,” she said. “To start with it was just going to be me and my husband but when other people heard we were doing it they volunteered too.”

Louise will be taking on the challenge with husband John, brother-in-law Alan and friends Louise, Leila, Helen, Lydia and Kate.

“Some of them have only just watched the videos from last year’s race, so they’ve suddenly realised what they’re in for!”

The demanding course will see participants negotiate obstacles including cargo nets, 10ft walls and a muddy crawl under barbed wire.

The Patteson Drive resident admitted that the course’s seven water-based obstacles were going to be her biggest challenge, but said the team planned to finish as a group.

She added that her chosen charity was close to her heart because her mum has been battling lymphoma since January 2013.

“In the autumn of 2013, Mum got the all clear, but sadly a few months later it returned but in her brain,” she said. “We were all shocked and deeply upset Mum has started her chemo all over again, and still today my beautiful mum is in and out of hospital having treatment.

“I’m hoping to raise £1,000 in total, but of course, if we get more than that, it’d be great.”

Donations can be made online at www.justgiving.com/LouiseACoward