Runner Ben Blowes completes 31 marathons in a month and raises £138,000

A man who completed the London Marathon with a tumble dryer on his back has raised more than £138,000 by running 31 marathons in a month.

Ben Blowes, 48, of Gazeley, Suffolk, took on the 812.2 mile (1,307km) feat to raise money for children's brain tumour charity Tom's Trust.

Each marathon was dedicated to a child who had been helped by the charity.

He said: "I'm very relieved to finish. It's been a long month. We've raised lots."

The final marathon, on 31 December, took him through Cambridgeshire and Suffolk border country, taking him through Newmarket, Exning, Fordham and Chippenham.

Speaking on day 15 of the challenge, Mr Blowes said he was "tired" and "depleted" but "enjoying it as well".

"Every painful step that I take is nothing compared to what some of these kids are going through right now," he said.

He had been training for the South Downs Way 50, an ultra-race race from Worthing to Eastbourne in Sussex, which was cancelled a month ago.

"Running in my garden turned out to be much tougher than I realised," he said.

"I couldn't get into a rhythm and passing my living room window every 30 seconds wasn't easy. It was a long old slog."

In 2017, Mr Blowes set a Guinness World Record for running the fastest marathon while carrying a household appliance, after completing the London course in five hours, 58 minutes and 37 seconds.

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