Lloyd Scott: London Marathon fundraiser reveals outfit for last race

A man who famously took six days to complete the London Marathon in a deep sea diving suit has revealed his costume for his final race.

Lloyd Scott, from Theydon Bois, Essex, will dress as Captain Scarlet for the 26-mile event on 23 April.

He said he chose the "indestructible" hero from his childhood after twice beating cancer - in 1989 and 2022.

"To me, cancer is a menacing unseen threat, like the Mysterons," Mr Scott said.

A former professional footballer and firefighter, the 61-year-old now works with deaf children as a communication support worker in east London.

The prolific fundraiser, who has raised more than £5m in five decades of charity runs, challenges and feats, said the race will be his last.

Mr Scott was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in April 2021 and underwent "gruelling" radiotherapy that summer.

The cancer returned in June 2022 and he endured an operation lasting more than 13 hours - and emergency follow-up surgery in August, which he described as a "close-run thing".

Mr Scott has also survived leukaemia after a diagnosis in 1987, and a bone marrow transplant in 1989.

He ran as Indiana Jones in 2007 and crawled the course over several days as Brian the Snail, from cult children's TV show The Magic Roundabout, in 2011.

One of Mr Scott's favourite outfits was The Iron Giant robot costume, from the 1999 film staring Vin Diesel, that he wore in 2008.

"It was about nine feet tall and it actually had eyes that lit up", he said.

"Inside the costume, I had a little handle that I could actually squeeze, which made the mouth open. I was on stilts too and people could not quite work out how it worked."

This year, he gained permission from Anderson Entertainment to dress up as Captain Scarlet, with a suit designed from the original patterns and moulds the puppets were made with.

"The costume has a personal connection because I used to watch Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons when I was a kid, who would always take part in various missions," he said.

"I feel kind of like him because I've sort of done different missions through the marathons, despite things that I have gone through as well - so he definitely struck a chord with me."

He added that balancing training alongside recovery has been tricky.

"I've got replacement hips and knees, and I've had 28 operations for various things, so training and managing my recovery has been really difficult," he said.

"I'm just pleased to be here and always try and be positive to give other people hope and encouragement."

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