Four marathons in four weeks is runner’s intention to honour cousin

If he is successful, the Capelles Building Stores director will about have completed 105 competitive miles to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

His ultra running challenge is in memory of his cousin Marie Black. She died in Guernsey recently, three years after being diagnosed with a type of soft tissue cancer.

‘She fought hard to beat it, but sadly lost her fight three weeks ago, only two days after getting married,’ said Mr Le Flem.

‘It’s been a very emotional time for the family, she leaves behind two young boys. So I want to raise as much as I can in her memory so that something positive can come out of this tragedy.’

Mr Le Flem has completed both the Berlin Marathon on 26 September and the London Marathon last Sunday.

‘So far it’s all going well and I feel very confident for the next two races. I’ve raised more than £4,300 so far and am hoping to get to £5,000 by the time I cross the finish line in St Peter Port,’ he said.

Mr Le Flem said it has been a difficult and emotional time for the family. When he began training six months ago, he did not expect to be attending Marie’s funeral the day after his first race.

‘I was very stressed in Berlin because I had to run the race in less than four-and-a-half hours to make my flight to get back to Guernsey in time for her funeral on Monday morning,’ he said.

In addition, he tore a calf muscle just four weeks before the Berlin Marathon. Before he began the race, he was not sure it was fully healed, and Mr Le Flem was worried it would slow him down.

‘I ran the marathon in four hours and eight minutes, and my calf held out fine. It seems to be OK now, and I’m not worried about the last two races,’ he said.

Mr Le Flem said Mrs Black spent a lot of time in hospital for treatments while he was training for this challenge. When he went to visit her, he said they never discussed what he was doing, because his only concern was for her well-being and spending time with her.

However, Mrs Black’s family is very supportive of Mr Le Flem’s challenge.

‘I don’t think any of us thought we had so little time left with her,’ said Mr Le Flem.

During the toughest moments of his challenge, Mr Le Flem has said he thinks about how brave his cousin was during her battle with cancer.

He hopes that the money he raises for Cancer Research UK will go toward developing cures, better treatment, and better detection for rare cancers like Mrs Black’s.

For his final marathon in Guernsey, Mr Le Flem has asked the organisers to allocate him bib number 44 as a reference to his challenge. He has also considered running dressed as Marvel character Thor ‘just because it rhymes with four’.

. To donate, https://bit.ly/2YpmXVf.