A police officer whose best friend and fellow colleague died of ovarian cancer is taking on a big challenge in her memory.

Sarah Jackson, from Greenhithe, is running the Royal Parks half marathon after taking inspiration from pal Sarah White's strength during her illness.

Ms White passed her Sergeant's exam just three months after her daughter was born and then passed her Inspector's exam a couple of years after that.

The single mum wanted to prove that anything can be achieved if you are prepared to work for it. She encouraged her friends to get into running.

They took part in 5K events together but quickly progressed to 10K runs due to Sarah's can-do attitude.

Sarah, 43, says she managed her best friend's death by surrounding herself with the right people. She has two children and wants them to see her as a role model.

On coping with her death, Sarah says she has to remember her friend's "tough love attitude".

Throughout her treatment, she continued to serve in the Metropolitan Police and often devoted time to informative lectures for ovarian cancer charities.

Sarah said she continued to be "a voice of total positivity throughout" and "never moaned, never asked 'why me?' or expressed any self-pity".

She said: "We began to take part in 5km events, but she would say ‘well if you can do 5K, you can do 10K, and if you can do 10K, you can do 10 miles. Before I knew it, we’d signed up to take part in the Paris Marathon.

"In her kitchen, there was a Royal Parks Half Marathon medal hanging from the wall. She used to tell me about how lovely an event it was and we’d always try and enter it together - it was only this year that I managed to get a place, so I’m looking forward to taking part in her memory."

The pair ran the Paris Marathon in 2018 and now Sarah is taking part in the upcoming half marathon to raise money for Target Ovarian Cancer which works to improve early diagnosis and funding life-saving research alongside providing support for everyone affected by a diagnosis.

The Royal Parks half marathon takes in four of London's eight Royal Parks - Hyde Park, Green Park, St James' Park and Kensington Gardens.

Sarah has lost both her grandmother and best friend to the illness and is hoping to raise as much money as possible to fund training and research.

Friends and family raised over £1,600 at Sarah's funeral by donating to a tribute page and Sarah's online fundraising page for the half marathon has raised another £1,100.

The colleagues had always planned on running the half marathon together, however, this year was the first year Sarah managed to get a place but it came too late for them to run alongside one another.

She added: "I know it'll be an emotional day, without Sarah running alongside me, but I know I'll be thinking of her with every step I take."