‘In her final years, my Gran, Betty, was a beneficiary of Independent Age, which was a real support to her both financially and in providing her with a frequent visitor.

‘My friend Chris and I decided that we wished to run the London Marathon in support of Independent Age. We ran dressed as Batman and Robin and completed the course together in just over five and a half hours. 2009 will be my fifth race. My best time to date was 4 hours 20 minutes – probably no coincidence that I did it without the costume!