Nick Pullen

MARTIN Eley would admit he is not in the first flush of fitness.

But that didn't stop the 48-year-old from Blackheath walking 26 miles across London in memory of former work colleague Jason Massey who died suddenly from meningitis.

It took Martin 10 hours to complete his trek which started at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford and finished at the Cutty Sark.

Martin said: "I'm not the fittest. I've got bad knees for a start and physically, I'm not in very good condition.

"I wanted to do something for Jason who was 41.

"He was a good friend and it came as a complete shock to me when he died."

He added: "We worked together at Car Spares Distribution Limited in Netherton as parts advisors, although he left a couple of years ago.

Jason's family, who are from Rowley Regis, now want to raise £5,000 for the Meningitis Research Foundation and Martin stepped in to help.

He said: "I'm not capable of running a marathon, so I decided to do the next best thing and walk one.

"I did a couple of practise walks beforehand, but the furthest was 15 miles and that was a bit of challenge. But it all came together on the day.

"I thought I might raise about £500, but I've been quite shocked. I've already raised around £1300 and the figure is still rising.

He added: "To be honest, I thought I'd struggle. There was a group of 120 people doing the trek, each for their own charity. I didn't know any of them.

"We were all distributed with a map and told to follow the guide - that was it!

"There were a few moments during the walk when I wondered why I was doing it. Then I remembered and kept going.

"The first thing I did afterwards was go to the pub".

If anyone wants to contribute, they should go to: wwwjustgiving.com/MartinEley.