WHILE most fundraisers would be proud of conquering a single marathon, Wiltshire Police's LGBT representatives are doubling up to take on a 52 mile kayak over two days for Swindon and Wiltshire Pride.

PCSOs Lee Hare and Kate Jackson-Collier now have around three weeks to prepare for the challenge, at Lake 12 in South Cerney.

The pair are already members of the Paddle Club, and have been planning the kayak for the last year.

Money raised will go towards the Swindon and Wiltshire Pride, which this year falls on August 8 at the Town Bowl, Old Town Gardens.

PCSO Hare said: "We will get through the whole thing with the motivation of getting some money together for Pride. We are both members of the Paddle Club at South Cerney, although we are no experts, and this challenge is probably going to kill us. There's no point doing something if it's easy though.

"We had meant to do it last year but with the weather we had at the time we thought we would save it until now. We have already done a cake sale, which raised £100, and so far we are up to £130. While we would love to get £500, anything more than that would be brilliant. We just think £500 is achievable."

"We have only got three and a half weeks to go now, so we are trying to get as ready as we can be. The main point of Pride is to make contact with people in regards to hate crime discrimination. To get people there you need some good entertainment and a venue, so all this will help pay for that."

PCSO Hare added while attitudes are steadily changing towards acceptance, more work always needs to be done to support the LGBT community.

"We live in an age now when most people accept it. Of course there are always stories about those people who don't, but fortunately those are getting rarer. There are some parents who do not understand it, and that can have awful consequences. One of the highest rates of suicide are among gay people for the simple reason that other people do not accept them. There is also the issue around certain religious cultures not accepting it.

"The answer to that is more education and support for people who are LGBT."

"Until 1967, being gay was illegal, and so the perceptions have definitely changed over the last few decades. We get a huge amount of support from the force to be able to get across the message that there is a zero tolerance approach towards hate crime."

To donate to Lee and Kate's double marathon kayak, visit www.gofundme.com/xr6ef7w8