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Runner completes April daily marathon challenge

Handout Laurie Argent with his arms in the air as he nears a red ribbon finish line in Worthing. There is a small crowd of people on the pavement near him and a black and white finish flag being held up in the foreground.Handout
Laurie Argent ran a marathon each day in April

A 21-year-old teaching assistant has completed 30 marathons in 30 days to raise money for charity.

Laurie Argent completed his challenge on Wednesday in Worthing, West Sussex, having laced up his running shoes each day in April.

He ran a full marathon of 26.2 miles (42.2 km) daily, often after a full day working as a teaching assistant at Oak Grove College, which provides special education for students with learning difficulties.

Ahead of his final marathon, Mr Argent told BBC Radio Sussex: "Some days have been really nice, it's all gone really smoothly. Other days have been really rough and painful and slow."

He said most marathons had taken him about four hours 20 minutes and he was sometimes joined by others, including his dad on his bike.

"Running gives me time to be free in my head with no worries or pressures," he added.

He was running in support of human rights charity The Amos Trust.

But he said it had been "tricky" fitting the running, mostly along the seafront in Worthing and Brighton, alongside his job.

Aged 16, Mr Argent completed a solo 50km run in aid of a Yemen charity and on his 18th birthday he completed the Weymouth Half Ironman.

He said he had been ranked in the top 10 globally out of more than 100 million Strava users for distance run in April.

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