A Caister man put himself through 14 agonizing hours of pain to raise money for a charity close to his heart.

Mark Blake took on the ultimate challenge on Saturday, running 100km in the London to Cambridge ultra marathon for cancer research.

His inspiration for the event was his mother, Lynne Blake, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

He set up an initial target of £500 through online fundraising, but has been able to massively exceed that, with a total of currently more than £3,500.

He said: “I generally try and keep fit, I play football for Caister FC and have done triathlons in the past.

“I hate running but last year entered the Great Yarmouth Half Marathon with very little training and did okay.

“I wanted a challenge that is going to push me and looked at marathons but decided to go that one step further and enter the London to Cambridge Ultra.

“It was an incredibly tiring challenge and I was delighted to get through it.

“There was a part where I ran along Leigh Valley which went very smoothly but then between the 50 and 75km stage I was running on very uneven farmland.

“That was the most difficult part as you really had to concentrate on where you were planting your foot.”

At the finish line in Cambridge he was met by both his mother and father.

He said: “My mum was unbelievably positive throughout her cancer treatment and she taught me a real lesson in how to deal with a bad situation.

“She is now recovering and making great progress.”

Anyone wanting to sponsor Mr Blake can do so on www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Mark-Blake6