Eight shortlisted charities are competing to be named the main beneficiary of money raised at next year’s St Albans Half Marathon.

This year the main benefiting charity was the Hospice of St Francis and now the public are being asked to decide which charity steps into its shoes for the event on June 11, 2017.

The charities in the running are Crohn’s and Colitis - Mid and East Herts, Mount Vernon Cancer Centre Charitable Fund, Peace Hospice Care, Rennie Grove Hospice Care, St Albans Mencap, Teens Unite Fighting Cancer, The ADD-vance ADHD and Autism Trust and Youth Talk.

Said race director, Katie Foweraker: “All of the charities in the short list wrote great applications and are each deserving of the money raised from the event. As part of the application, we asked what they would do with the money and we’ve put those answers on our website to help you decide.”

She went on: “Community is at the heart of the event, and always has been. All our marshals are volunteers from local community groups, and all profits of the event are donated to local charities and organisations.

“That’s why we feel it is so important that the community gets to decide where the money goes; the event is run by the community for the community.

The winning charity will receive 50 free places in the half marathon as well as benefiting from market exposure from the event.

Last year the Hospice of St Francis had a team of 80 runners and walkers who managed to raise over £10,000 from fundraising donations alone.”

Voting closes this Monday, October 31, on www.stalbanshalfmarathon.co.uk and the winner will be announced on November 8.