WINCHESTER'S annual Race 4 Hope will be 25 per cent longer this year.

Runners will have to cover a 10km course instead of the five miles of the three previous years the event has been held.

Asthma research is the good cause that will benefit from the 2005 race on Sunday, May 22.

The event, which starts at River Park Leisure Centre in Gordon Road, raises thousands of pounds each year.

Organisers are expecting up to 700 runners to take part.

For those not quite in shape for a 10km slog, a series of fun-runs over one and two kilometres will be held at the leisure centre on the same day.

Organiser Hilary Lancaster, of Southampton-based medical research charity Hope, said: "In the past the race was five miles but 10km seems to be the standard most people want to run to."

In the past funds raised from the event were split between asthma research and Hope's Healthy Babies campaign, but this year all money will go towards asthma research.

Hope funds internationally-renowned asthma scientist Professor Stephen Holgate at the University of Southampton.

Prof Holgate and his team focus their research on trying to understand the basic mechanisms of chronic asthma.

This year the race has attracted sponsorship from several sources, including Norwich Union Healthcare.

Cash prizes and trophies are on offer for the first, second and third men and women across the line in the road race, and all finishers will be given medals.

Fun prizes are also on offer for the shorter races.

The closing date for entries is May 13 and runners must be aged 15 or over. Youngsters can enter the shorter events.

For more information contact Hilary Lancaster on 023 8033 3366.

Alternatively, you can e-mail race4hope@hope.org.uk

ASTHMA: THE FACTS

Asthma is a chronic lung condition that affects the airways and

breathing.

About one child in eight and one adult in 13 in the UK are currently being treated for asthma.

The causes of asthma are not fully known but it is partly an allergic condition.

When a person has asthma their airways are sensitive and easily become swollen. When irritated they narrow and the muscles around them tighten, making it harder for the person to get enough breath and causing wheezing, coughing and breathlessness.

Last week the Daily Echo reported how parents of Chandler's Ford schoolboy Anuj Panchmatia, who died after suffering a sudden asthma attack on a school playing field, have called for more research into the disease.