By Paul Brown

Stiliyan Petrov will be at the forefront of the minds of a team of budding claret and blue female runners this weekend.

Thirteen Villa ladies are in training ahead of a big charity race.

Rebecca Starkey, Katherine Horder, Andrea Hartman, Hayley Lingard, Becky Davis, Lauren O'Hara, Tracy Piper, Stacey Cliff, Laura Sensier, Sheila Maybury, Tracy Bailey, Nicky Keye and Nicky Salt are all gearing up for Race for Life.

The 5km event takes place in Sutton Park on Saturday June 16.

They are representing Villa and donning claret and blue tops to help raise money for Cancer Research UK.

Cancer Research UK provides vital, life-saving work into preventing and diagnosing the terrible illness.

It's a regular event for this team of fast females - but the devastating leukaemia diagnosis for Petrov has made it an even more apt event this time around.

Villa's group of ladies have set a target of £500 and you can help donate by logging on to their website - click here.

Team spokesperson Rebecca Starkey said: "I'm not sure any of us will be able to match Gabby Agbonlahor's pace on the pitch but we'll be giving it everything we've got to do Villa proud.

"But it's not about how quickly you finish, in reality, it's all about competing, finishing the course, having a good day-out and achieving the target we've set for ourselves.

"We're all looking forward to it and it's great to think we're doing it all for a very worthwhile cause.

"It's even more relevant this year with the news of Stiliyan's illness. We'll all be thinking about him as we compete.

"Let's hope we can show his battling qualities as we make our way around the course."