TRACK superstar and Olympic champion Seb Coe is backing a Scots charity's bid to raise £50,000.

Lord Coe, who was chairman of the London 2012 Olympics bid, is supporting Paisley-based Scottish Huntington's Association new sporting challenge.

Fellow Olympian Sarah Winckless, a bronze medal winning rower and the charity's patron, is living with HD - a degenerative brain disorder with no cure, which affects 1100 people in Scotland.

Sarah is urging people to 'Shape Up With Winckless' and get sponsored to do sport over the coming weeks.

Sarah explained: "I will be taking on a series of sporting challenges over the coming months and I would urge people to join me and get sponsored.

"It doesn't have to be a major commitment, just something that you feel comfortable doing, whether a run, a walk or a cycle or perhaps trying a new sport."

Cash raised will be used to recruit two new HD specialists to support people affected by the condition.

Lord Coe said: "I remember the day Sarah told me about HD and her diagnosis.

"I think anything she has achieved in sport is dwarfed by the challenges the disease will present her with in the future.

"I wholeheartedly lend my support and enthusiasm to her campaign and hope to see and follow many people taking on her challenge over the months ahead," he said.

HD is a hereditary progressive condition which causes changes to muscle control, thinking processes and can cause long-term mental health issues.

The average age of onset is between 33 and 45 and those living with the condition require 24-hour care as it progresses into its later stages.

Each child of someone diagnosed with HD has a 50 per cent chance of developing the condition.

For more information, visit facebook.com/shapeupwithwinckless or the SHA website www.hdscotland.org/shapeup.