A DAD whose daughter died when she was eight years old is keeping his fingers crossed that the weather is kind as he attempts to run, swim and cycle from London to Paris.

Dr John Young and three of his close friends attempted to take on the notoriously difficult and challenging Enduroman Arch to Arc event last September.

However, poor weather put their fundraiser on hold.

Now, nearly nine months later, John will be hoping for better luck as they attempt to raise money for the Teapot Trust, which he founded alongside wife Laura in 2010.

The 52-year-old described the postponement of the challenge as “very disappointing and also quite frustrating”.

He said: “We were hoping we would get away but everybody knows the score with it.

“We are aware conditions in the English Channel determine if you get going and how fast you get across.

“It is a lot easier when it is calm rather than a force three gale blowing in your face.”

John, who lives in Gullane, will be joined at the start line at London’s Marble Arch by friends Richard Hobson, Stuart Macleod and Ben Clothier.

From there, the quartet will run 87 miles to Dover – a distance which is expected to take about 13 hours.

The running shoes will be ditched as they attempt to swim 21 miles across the English Channel; leaving at midnight and arriving on French shores anywhere between 10 and 14 hours later.

Finally, it is a 180-mile cycle from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe at the heart of Paris.

John, who regularly swims off the coast of Gullane, picked out the swim as the biggest challenge.

He said the weather and tides needed to be suitable and even then it did not mean the conditions would be the same after getting away from the English coast.

“The conditions make such a big difference,” said John.

“Whether it is getting away or if the conditions change halfway over and you get dragged out of the water and told it is finished.”

John and Laura set up the Musselburgh-based charity following the death of their daughter, Verity, in 2009.

The couple spotted gaps in the care of the eight-year-old, who suffered from Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) and also cancer before her tragic death.

The charity provides hospital-based art therapy to children with chronic illnesses. It provided more than 3,000 hours of art therapy in 2015.

To make a donation and support John, Ben, Stuart and Richard, go to uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/2arcs