Cheddar parish councillor Martin Kay is taking on his first ever 26.2-mile event in the 41st London Marathon on October 3 in support of Alzheimer's Research UK.

Martin was also recently instrumental in setting up the new parkrun event for Cheddar and is the Event Director for it.

Martin has always had a passing interest in running and recalls entering short "fun runs" in the London area back in the 1990s.

However, he took it up more seriously following a marriage breakdown a few years ago as a way to clear the head and get some thinking space.

He also joined the Lonely Goat Running Club which is a national affiliation of runners whose aim is to improve lives through supporting and inspiring people to become fitter and healthier, both physically and mentally.

Martin also discovered parkrun at this time, and has recently been using the weekly 5km events as part of his training for the marathon.

These have been mixed in with some longer runs, the longest being to Yatton and back along the Strawberry Line - which is only a few miles short of the full marathon distance - and also the recent Bridgwater and Bristol half-marathons.

He said: "I've been following a detailed marathon training plan and I found the Covid lockdowns enabled me to find more time to practice running, using the lanes and paths of the Cheddar Valley.

"As a result, my first parkrun this year was over a minute quicker than the last one before they paused in March 2020."

Martin has experience of older relatives suffering with dementia in his own family and in his pre-Covid role as a volunteer NHS driver was transporting many dementia patients to hospital and daycare appointments locally.

He said: "It was sad to see how dementia had affected these people who had clearly had full and interesting lives but were struggling with memory loss and general confusion.

"So hopefully I can raise a few quid to help towards finding a cure."

If you'd like to support Martin's fundraiser, the donations page is at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/martin-kay-lgrc. Alzheimer's Research UK is also the official charity partner of parkrun in this country.