FLM 2009: Potters Bar Man runs marathon for deafblind

THIS year's Flora London Marathon featured the usual mix of colourful characters all running the historic race for a host of good causes. Almost 40,000 people took to the streets of the capital to run the 26-mile course for the charity of their choice. On

THIS year's Flora London Marathon featured the usual mix of colourful characters all running the historic race for a host of good causes.

Almost 40,000 people took to the streets of the capital to run the 26-mile course for the charity of their choice.

One of those was Andrew Knell from Potters Bar, who completed the course in five hours and 40 minutes.

The 29-year-old said: "It was a great day.

"There was fantastic support all the way from people lining the street which really helped.

"It was really good fun until mile 19 when I hit the wall. But I just had to keep going."

Andrew, of Grangewood, was raising funds for Sense, the country's leading charity offering help and support for deafblind people.

"When I was deciding what charity to run for, Sense just stood out," he said.

Andrew's father, councillor Peter Knell, said: "I'm very proud of him.

"He's been training for 14 weeks, and the longest he had run before was 19 miles, so those last seven miles were hard.

"He got sunburnt, like a lot of people, but he came through it. He took it seriously but he enjoyed his day.