Physiotherapist Julie Sparrow is looking on the bright side after battling breast cancer - she's about to run a 56-mile marathon and she gets to touch Matthew Pinsett's thighs.

JULIE Sparrow radiates health and energy. At 48 she is slim, spare, athletically light on her feet, a senior lecturer in physiotherapy at the University of Teesside, an accomplished distance runner and physio to the Great Britain Gymnastics and Rowing teams and to the English Ladies Golfers.

No surprise, perhaps, that later this year she's planning to run an ultra marathon - 56 miles in the heat of South Africa

But a year ago Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer. Which made her very cross.

"It was so inconvenient," she says.

She was booked to go Russia with the Under 21 golfers and then soon after that were the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

"But the NHS was brilliant," she says. "The radiotherapy teams at James Cook University Hospital arranged my treatment to fit in with my plans. And when I stood in Moscow's Red Square and felt so well, I knew I owed them a huge debt."

The Commonwealth Games were pretty good too, "Terrific atmosphere. Better than Sydney even."

But Julie still had something to prove. Which is why, even though she's still on medication, in June she's running that marathon - 56 miles in 12 hours.

"Having cancer focuses your attention. It reminds you that you really are going to die of something some day, so you have to make the most of the time you've got.

"Sometimes I'd be in the hospital waiting room and there'd be people complaining and feeling sorry for themselves and I wanted to say - look, there are far worse things that could happen. You're still here for a start. There's a lot you can do.

"People are frightened of cancer. But it's not always a death sentence. Often really it's just inconvenient."

Which is why Julie is doing the London marathon next month, was in Prague for a half marathon last weekend, has more half marathons planned in Lochaber and the Isle of Wight and slots in a few fun runs here and there.

"You meet really nice people on the fun runs. You can have interesting chats," she says, with the awesome assurance of someone who can run and talk at the same time.

Born in Saltburn, Julie was a PE teacher until her late twenties when she retrained as a physio and worked in hospitals locally.

By 1988, she was physio for the county gymnasts and then for the national team at the Commonwealth games and the Olympics. She now lectures on the physiotherapy course "because I want to show students what's possible for them".

Places for physiotherapists are nearly as keenly fought as for the athletes.

She is also physio for the rowing team and was there when Sir Steve Redgrave became the most honoured Olympian.

"Magic. But it didn't matter how brilliantly he'd done, he still had to pick his boat up out of the water when he'd finished," she says.

Physios have to be bossy, part of the job. "Not bullying, just assertive and purposeful, " says Julie. Of course. When athletes have trained for months, years maybe for one particular event, they need to be in the peak of fitness at just the right time, which is often a terrific responsibility for the physios.

We pause for a moment to consider Matthew Pinsent's thighs...

"The principles are the same, whoever you're dealing with but after dealing with the rowers, some of the young girl gymnasts seem like bendy toys," says Julie.

Since she first did the London Marathon in 1990, Julie has run a marathon nearly every year and had toyed with the ultra marathon before. It's one of South Africa's biggest sporting events, started in 1921 by an old soldier in memory of his comrades fallen in the First World War, and attracts 25,000 competitors from all over the world.

"You used to have to complete it in 11 hours but then it was extended to 12, so I thought this was my chance."

The route runs from Pietermaritzburg to Durban and vice versa, alternating every year.

"This year it's the so-called Downhill Version but I think they use the term 'downhill' very loosely," she says.

While Julie is doing the running, her friend Pat Taylor is in charge of fund raising. "I have great admiration for how Julie has dealt with the situation and if she can run 56 miles the least I can do is overcome my reticence at asking for aid and help her by raising some cash," says Pat.

Both women are paying their own way to South Africa and hope to raise £5,000.

"Before I had cancer I was already supporting the Holistic Cancer Care Project at James Cook University Hospital," says Julie, "It costs £2,500 a week to run, so I'd like to be able to pay for a week's worth.

"The other £2,500 will go to COCO - a charity set up by Steve Cram to aid education projects for children in poor countries."

The find raising is already under way, as is Julie's training.

"If nothing else, I'll show people that you can have cancer and still live life to the limit," she says.

* Among fund raising events planned as part of Julie's effort, are a quiz night at Wolviston Village Hall on Wednesday, April 2; a coffee morning in Wolviston WI Hall on Saturday, April 5 and a strawberry tea at the Old Vicarage, Wolviston on Saturday, July 12, by which time Julie should be home from her ultra marathon efforts.

For details of these and other events telephone (01740) 644663