South Hams man Chris Drew completed the London Marathon in five hours, 14 minutes at the weekend, raising £2,200 for Salcombe RNLI.

Chris works for Coast and Country Cottages in Dartmouth and travelled up to London with his wife Hayley and their children Leila, 6, and Isaac, 4.

Chris said: “It was a very warm day which made it quite difficult, but the atmosphere was fun and electric.

“Unfortunately my bluetooth headphones failed at the start, but after the first mile, this didn’t matter - there was such a big crowd of spectators cheering us on. And with music and bands playing along the route - it didn’t matter about the headphones!

“There were lots of people in fancy dress. I was overtaken by a gorilla at mile one and by a rhinoceros at mile eight!”

Chris continued: “I received loads of support and generous sponsorship from my friends, family and colleagues in Salcombe and Dartmouth.

“So many people donated, including lots of anonymous donations and from people I don’t know.

“One in particular stood out, which was from Anne who is a volunteer watchkeeper at the National Coastwatch Institution at Prawle Point - thank you very much!”

“The London Marathon is a fantastic opportunity for people to challenge and push themselves. I would encourage everyone to go for it and raise money for local charities,” Chris added.