The London marathon has seen racers compete in almost every wacky outfit imaginable over the years - but a mother-of-five is attempting a world first by running the race in high heels.

Natalie Eckert hopes to raise £5,000 by completing next year's London marathon in a pair of sparkly five-inch high heels, earning herself a Guinness World Record in the process.

The 37-year-old was inspired after hearing about German Julia Plecher earning a place in the Book of Records by running 100m in 14.531 seconds while wearing golden heels.

Despite never running a marathon before, Mrs Eckert, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, says she is confident of completing the race and has set herself an ambitious target of four hours.

Mother-of-five Natalie Eckert plans to become the first person to complete a marathon wearing high heels, despite never having run that distance before

Mrs Eckert, a housewife whose youngest child is just three months old, is currently training by running twice a week wearing a pair of five-inch high heels and going boxing on the other three days

Her training regime consists of running two nights a week and doing boxing on three nights.

She added: 'My friends are always laughing at me because I'm always wearing high heels. I wear them all the time, even on the school run.

'I've been known to wear them when I've been pregnant. I absolutely love them. I read about the German lady doing 100m and thought "that's nothing, she should try a marathon".

'I have always been into sports, I recently entered into a spinning marathon [on an exercise bike] at the local gym for cancer charities and did well in that so I thought this would be a great challenge.

'I've got 25 weeks to up my training. I started running in heels a few weeks ago but it didn't feel too strange.

'The only problem I think I might have is getting the heel caught in a hole or something like that on the road.

'I would like to do it under four hours. I have never ran a full marathon, the maxiumum distance I have ever done is a half marathon, but I want to set myself an ambitious target.

'The Guinness World Record people said the minimum height is three inches but I thought that was no problem. The smallest pair I have are five inches so I have been training in them anyway.

'It's not as though this is going to be an easy task for me. I'm a mother of five children and my youngest is only a three-month-old baby. It's going to take a lot of hard work and dedication.'

Mrs Eckert says she has always been involved in sports and is known among her friends for always wearing high heels - including while she was pregnant

Mrs Eckert is hoping to raise £5,000 for two different charities during the event - and bag herself a spot in the Guinness Book Of World records in the process

Mrs Eckert, a housewife, lives with her husband Kevin, 30, a building site supervisor, and their five children ranging from a three-month-old baby to a 13-year-old teenager.

To comply with the Guinness World Record regulations, she will have four pairs of identical stilettos for the big race in London next April.

She now hopes to attract a big name sponsor for the marathon and plans to raise over £5,000 in aid of Asthma UK and a charity for bereaved children called Winston's Wish.

She added: 'My son who is two has been diagnosed with asthma so I wanted to donate to the charity. I had asthma as a child so I know how bad it can be.

'I have been in touch with Stella McCartney, Jimmy Choo and Victoria Beckham. I'm hoping at least one of them will get back to me.

'I haven't got the pair of shoes I'm going to do the race in yet but I'm hoping Jimmy Choo might donate a pair if I'm lucky.

'I've also contacted Elastoplast. Fingers crossed they get back to me because I'm going to have some huge blisters.'