A councillor headed down to the seaside to partake in a marathon and raise money.

Councillor Chris Lloyd (Liberal Democrat, ward Durrants) and Watford GP Kevin Barrett took part in a 26.2 mile run in Bournemouth as part of the annual Bournemouth Marathon Festival on Sunday (October 6).

The run, which began at 10:00 am, was part of a massive festival which saw 4,000 marathon runners and 5,000 half marathon runners, to raise money for their selected charities.

Cllr Lloyd ran on the Sunday, alongside two marathons which took place at the London marathon in April and the Edinburgh marathon in May, to raise money for Oxfam.

Dr Barrett instead chose to raise money and awareness for Crohn’s and Colitis UK, a charity which supports 500,000 people in the UK affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Cllr Lloyd said: “Kevin and I left Croxley Green at 6:30am, the worst part of the journey was the flooding Loudwater Lane!

“It was my fastest marathon of the year, it was a well organised event, friendly marshals. It was great being able to talk to other runners and encourage each other.

“My next run will be South Oxhey park run on Saturday to celebrate my 40th Wedding anniversary.”

Before 2018, both Cllr Lloyd and Dr Barrett never took part in a marathon, with Cllr Lloyd being unable to take appropriate time to train for the events. In contrast, Dr Barrett himself did have some training experiences with running on a tread mill and taking part in park runs.

Cllr Lloyd raised £4,058.73 for Oxfam, while Mr Barrett raised £323.60 from their Justgiving pages.