75-year-old man from Blackborough End completes his last marathon to raise money for Kidney Research
A 75-year-old man has completed his last marathon after being inspired by his children to raise money for Kidney Research UK.
Stewart South, from Blackborough End, finished his last marathon on October 15 in Yorkshire.
He has run nine marathons all over the world since he donated a kidney to his son in 1999, who had been diagnosed with kidney disease.
Altogether, he has raised £27,000 for Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Kidney Research UK.
After donating his kidney, Stewart decided to take up running as a way to get fit again, and so he ran the Three Peaks Mountain Challenge in 24 hours and the London Marathon in 2002.
After this, Stewart’s other son had a kidney transplant so as a way to say ‘thank you’, Stewart ran marathons in London and New York to raise money.
He then decided to put a pause on his marathon running at age 56, but then picked it back up in 2015 when he decided to run marathons in Dublin and then Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and London.
Now, Stewart has decided to make this Yorkshire marathon his last, raising £2,000 so far. He described the run as “cold at the start, but sunny throughout”.
He completed the course in four hours and 40 minutes.
Stewart said: “I thought it was quite good for an oldie. I shall keep on running, but no more marathons.”
He says how grateful he is for all of the support that he has received over the years, which has resulted in being able to improve the lives of seven million people in the UK suffering from Kidney disease.