Thanks to everyone for their support for this great cause. I completed the marathon in some pretty tough hot conditions, but I managed to get round in under 4 hours (3'58") which was satisfying. I didn't realise it would be quite as hard. At one stage I really slowed down (ok, I had to walk for a bit) but I managed to get going again and stagger on.

Your generosity and that of many others helped me to raise over £6000 (including a number of people who didn't contribute via the website). Along with the Gift Aid this means that Vision Aid Overseas should be getting over £7000 to contribute to their work.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who helped me with this.

Peter

Original message:

Thousand of people around the world see inadequately simply because they don’t have spectacles. I'll be running the London marathon in April to help them.

A team of volunteer British opticians travels to poor parts of the world to give eye tests and distribute used spectacles that have been donated in this country. Just a few minutes can equip patients with new glasses that can transform their lives.

My father, Nigel Horrocks, is a retired optometrist who has been contributing to the work of the charity that collects the spectacles and distributes them around the world – Vision Aid Overseas.

I’d like to assist him and his colleagues to help even more people to be able to see properly. You can see more information about Vision Aid here: http://www.vao.org.uk/

The marathon is on April 22 when I'll be running to help draw attention to this marvellous work and to raise money for it. I hope you’ll be able to support this. You can contribute, anonymously if you like, via this website.

Many thanks

Peter