A LOCAL man has raised £1,700 for the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital NHS charity, thanks to the support of many people who sponsored him.

Mark Rice decided he wanted to do something for the NHS after he heard that a friend was organising a sponsored run challenge.

Mark explained: “I’ve done hundreds of run challenges, so wanted to do something different and had recently started rowing indoors!

“So a marathon row it was!”

Mark continued: “I have only ever done a half marathon so thought it was a daunting challenge I had given myself with only a month to train for it as I wanted to do it on my 58th birthday and during the VE Day anniversary Bank Holiday.

“So after lots of training, and sponsorship, May 8 was the big day.

“The evening before my son, Dan, suggested he cycle beside me on a turbo trainer, for company with a target of 100k, he also had never done anything like that before.

My marathon row time was three hours, 18 minutes, Dan’s time for the 100k was three hours, 23 minutes.

“Total sponsorship was £1,700 with it all going to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital NHS charity, so that kept it local.”