Postman's special '˜round' for his dad

The 34-year-old from Worthing was pleased to have the chance to run the London Marathon and happy with his finish time of five hours 23 minutes.

“I felt very nervous on the morning of the race with all the emotion of it, but I felt good,” said Martin.

“The race went very well. I was on my target pace for a considerable period of time but from about mile 21 or so, it began to get very warm and from about mile 24 I began to feel very sick, so was unable to keep going at my pace.

“However, I was happy with what I had done and it was a pleasure to have been given the chance to run in such a great event.”

Martin ran in aid of Leukaemia CARE, a national leukaemia charity providing advice and support to anybody who has been affected by blood cancer.

He took on the epic run in memory of his father, who passed away in November last year from leukaemia, and raised nearly £2,150.

Clare Brooks, fundraiser at Leukaemia CARE, said: “I’m incredibly proud of all our runners, including Martin. They’ve put in months of hard graft during training and have enthusiastically fundraised all to make a difference to anybody who has been affected by a blood cancer.

“It’s an amazing feeling to watch our runners cross the line. Martin has done himself proud and made a real difference along the way.”