THE principal of Launceston College, Bryan Maywood, ran the London Marathon on Sunday raising more than £2,200 for the mental health charity MIND.

He said he was inspired to run for MIND as a means of sharing the need to talk about looking after one’s mental health. His father, impacted upon traumatic events during the Second World War, never really opened up about his challenges and as a result spent some time in care.

Bryan used assemblies at college to encourage students and staff to ‘just talk’.

Bryan completed the marathon in a time of 5:28:24 — this was a whole 40 minutes more than it took him to complete the much hillier Cornish Marathon back in November. Bryan believes the very dry and hot conditions were to blame.

He said: “The heat was overpowering throughout the whole of the London Marathon — during the first half it was hard to acclimatise to the heat and dryness and by the second half my feet felt so hot and sore — it was like they were being cooked on the tarmac; I have massive blisters!”

However Bryan wasn’t disappointed and he took the opportunity to enjoy the ‘brilliant atmosphere’. He said: “I chose to really slow down and enjoy the amazing crowds — high-fiving as many spectators as I could.

“The support was tremendous, from mile one to mile 26.”

Bryan has not ruled out having another go at London Marathon in future years, but for now he is focusing on next month when he will take on the Imerys Marathon.