IT is indeed a marathon task to run for 26 miles, even more so when you are surrounded by 45,000 other runners.

Begelly boy, and former pupil of Pentlepoir and Greenhill academies, Paul Stone, was one of that throng at the recently run London Marathon.

He was in good company and, following in his brother Ceri's footsteps, was delighted to finish unscathed in a time of 4hrs. 38m. Every mile was a step closer to raising a sum in excess of £4,500 for Children with Cancer, a fate suffered by the son of one of his friends currently undergoing treatment for leukaemia.