ONE woman and her dogs are notching up some impressive mileage to help cancer patients.

Amanda Potter, of Wetherby Road, York, and four of her friends will tackle the Ripley Ramble for Cancer Research UK on Sunday.

Labradors Cally, Charlie and Henry will trot alongside Sharron Layton, Steph Anderson, Mary Anderson and Jane Gowers throughout their five-km mission, wearing their own canine-sized t-shirts and pink ribbons on their collars to promote breast cancer awareness.

The ramble will not be the pets' first fundraising venture, as they have pulled Amanda along to three Stride For Life events in the last five years.

Amanda said helping to fund cancer research was a cause close to her heart, as her father Alan was currently in remission after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy to treat bladder cancer.

She said her Uncle Carl had recently died of liver cancer, both her grandmothers died of cancer and her best friend Joanne's mum lost a three year battle against the disease.

Fellow rambler Jane lost her father to cancer and her son recovered from leukaemia.

"Everybody has been touched by cancer at some point in their life so Cancer Research UK is a very worthy cause," said Amanda. "The Ripley Ramble is a dog-friendly walk and we'll take it in turns to walk them on their leads when our arms get pulled out of their sockets.

"The dogs get so wet and muddy, they absolutely love it.

"I ran the Race for Life twice but I didn't take the dogs with me; it would have been chaos with them pulling on their leads."

In preparation for the ramble, Amanda and her colleagues at BT have organised a 'pink day' to support Breast Cancer Awareness Day on Friday. (Oct 29)

Staff will wear pink and pay £1 to enjoy a pink buffet offering delicacies such as beetroot, prawns, salmon, fondant fancies and pink lemonade.

Proceeds from the day will be donated to Cancer Research UK, with half going directly into breast cancer research.

To sponsor Amanda, email her on amanda.potter@bt.com

Updated: 10:19 Tuesday, October 26, 2004