A MID-Devon man pounded the streets of London to raise hundreds of pounds for a national charity.

Jeremy Penfold, 56, from Cullompton, completed the London marathon course in five hours and five minutes last Sunday, as he joined thousands of others tackling the iconic course.

Mr Penfold put in month’s of training for the gruelling challenge, and managed to raise an impressive £700 for Asthma UK.

The national charity helps provide support and advice for those who suffer from asthma, and the self-funded charity had 300 runners in the marathon, helping to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for it.

Asthma UK hopes to raise more than £525,000 from the event so it can continue with its vital research work to develop new treatments, improve the lives of the 1 one-in-11 people in the UK who have asthma, and ultimately find a cure.

Kerry Johns, head of events and community fundraising at Asthma UK, praised Mr Penfold and the other 299 runners who ran the race in aid of the charity.

Mr Johns said: “I’d like to say a big thank you and congratulations to Jeremy for running the London Marathon for us.

“Every 10 ten seconds someone has a potentially life-threatening asthma attack in the UK, which is why we fund research to help develop new treatments and ultimately a cure for asthma.

“We are solely funded by public donations, so we simply wouldn’t be able to continue with our work without people like Jeremy and our team of fantastic runners.”

Although asthma is a widely-known condition, its seriousness is often underestimated. In the UK, 5.4 million people are currently receiving treatment for asthma. One-in-11 children, or 1.1 million, suffer from asthma, as do one-in-12 adults, 4.3 million The UK has one of the highest prevalence rates for asthma in Europe, according to the ERS Whitebook.

For further information on Asthma UK’s running events that take place throughout the year, or if you would like to raise funds for them, visit asthma.org.uk/running.