St Neots man's marathon challenge in memory of best friend

A man whose best friend died after a brain tumour diagnosis will run three marathons, nine 10Ks and five half-marathons.

Ross Paterson, from St Neots in Cambridgeshire, will take on the challenge in memory of Steve Holbrook who died in 2016.

He will raise money for Brain Tumour Research by doing the '395 challenge'.

Mr Holbrook had served as an officer with Bedfordshire Police for 15 years and 395 was his collar number.

The late father-of-two, from Great Paxton, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) in 2015.

He had surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy but died in November 2016, aged 37.

Mr Paterson, 41, said: "He was one of my best mates, hilarious and a brilliant friend, he won't ever be forgotten.

"Seeing him go through what he did was horrible, but also inspiring because he never came across as defeated.

"He was determined to live the best life he could for as long as possible."

Mr Holbrook appeared in A Time To Live - a BBC documentary about living with terminal illness.

Mr Paterson said: "He was still able to show some of the old Holbrook humour whilst going through horrendous treatment.

"It was heart-breaking because he was clearly in so much pain, mentally and physically, but he still had a smile on his face and was trying to keep it all together.

"He just wanted to be the best husband and dad whilst he was still here."

The pair ran the Paris Marathon together in 2013 and had talked of running from London to Paris, something they never got to do.

Mr Paterson's wife suggested a '395' challenge which would start during Brain Tumour Awareness Month on 17 March, during the Rome Marathon.

He said: "I've started training so I am out pounding the streets of St Neots with people looking at me strangely because I'm not particularly fast, but I'm just trying to get my fitness levels back up.

"It is daunting but knowing I'm doing it for Steve will get me through it.

"It's a crazy challenge but it means something, and when Steve was going through treatment he still managed to run lots of races and raise money for Brain Tumour Research.

"He wanted that to be his legacy because he wasn't fortunate enough to benefit from the clinical trials he would have loved to take part in and wanted to raise awareness of the need for greater investment in research."

Steve's friends and family have already raised more than £66,000 for Brain Tumour Research in his name.

Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager for the charity, said: "This is enough to sponsor 24 days of research at any of our four Centres of Excellence, each day costing £2,740.

"That's an incredible legacy, which Ross will continue to build on over the course of this ambitious year-long challenge."

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