Two West Cornwall men who work together in the Penzance constituency office of local MP Derek Thomas will be separated by no more than the length of a bootlace for 26 miles when they join up to 40,000 other runners in the 2018 London Marathon on 22^nd April 2018

Keith Gale, who is visually impaired and will be fulfilling a long-held ambition to run the marathon, will be guided round the course by Simon Jones, a Mounts Bay Harrier who previously ran the London Marathon a couple of years ago; the pair will be raising funds for the Brain Tumour Research charity

Visually impaired since birth, Keith’s sight has deteriorated over time and he was forced to stop running by himself about a decade ago after a couple of near accidents caused by his failing sight.

A keen sports fan who rarely misses Plymouth Argyle’s home games and used to travel to Taunton to watch Somerset play cricket, the 47-year-old has kept himself fit at Penzance Leisure Centre, attending spin classes and working out on the weights and the treadmill and cross-trainer machines.

The idea of competing the 2018 London Marathon very soon emerged as Keith has harboured an ambition since he was in his twenties to run in the event: “I used to watch it every year when it was the London Flora Marathon and have always loved the atmosphere,” he said. “However I had to give up on the idea of running it by myself as my peripheral vision was getting worse and I was worried about colliding with other runners and perhaps preventing them completing the race."

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