Man breaks record before marathon

Gavin Harvie ran 42.5 miles before starting the London Marathon

A Glasgow man took part in a record breaking running event before completing the London Marathon.

Gavin Harvie, 37, was part of a team of 12 who ran 495.76 miles in 48 hours on a treadmill breaking the previous record of 431 miles.

The event, which started on Friday in London, was to raise money for the baby charity Tommy's.

Mr Harvie, who then ran the London Marathon in three hours 17 minutes, said "I feel absolutely grand".

To qualify for the Guinness Book of Records, the 12 person team had to run constantly for 48 hours with two independent witnesses at all times.

During the attempt the shop where they were running was hit by lightening and the power went off for 20 seconds.

"Initially it was a bit worrying because you think 'what's going to happen' but they weren't going to be obstructive. They looked at the witness statements and were happy", said Mr Harvie.

Speaking after they had confirmation of the record, he added: "It's very hard to describe how I'm feeling but I'm confident it's going to stand for a long time".

After personally running 42.5 miles on the treadmill Gavin said he had not been looking forward to running the marathon.

But afterwards he said: "My legs aren't too bad. In fact I feel quite chipper".

His next challenge is running the Edinburgh Marathon in six weeks time.