AS BRYAN Griffiths made his way around the London Marathon course it was not just a race, it was personal.

The 47-year-old from Watlington had managed to raise around £4,000 for Maggie’s Cancer Centre, where his wife Nathalie volunteers.

He said: “My sister’s husband Gerry was diagnosed with cancer last year and he died in January.

“There isn’t a Maggie’s Centre everywhere and I know that if there had been one where they lived in the north west it would have been a massive support to them.”

Mr Griffiths finished the race in five hours and five minutes, but did not beat his target of four and a half hours, which is the time he ran the 1988 marathon in.

He said: “I feel I couldn’t have done it any quicker. I’m going back home and I have put a bottle of Champagne in the fridge.”