IT WAS an emotional day for marathon runner Mark Hawkins when he completed his seventh — and final — fundraising 26.2-miler around Okehampton on Saturday.

Mark, known by the nickname Rab, short for Run Rabbit, has raised an incredible £10,465 for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust over the past four and a half years — after they airlifted him to hospital for emergency treatment after a fall. And in this last effort, Mark, 57, overcame injury to run 17 laps of 1.55 miles around the town in four hours five minutes, beating the world average marathon time of four hours 32 minutes.

He was cheered on by supporters as he ran through the town centre and at the finish outside the Devon Air Ambulance Trust shop on Fore Street. ‘There were a big group of people waiting outside the air ambulance shop, cheering me on,’ he said. ‘It was quite emotional. I was absolutely shattered and I felt was quite tearful. It was really nice, just lovely, a fabulous end to a four and a half year journey.’

Mark’s route for the marathon saw him start and finish each lap from outside the Devon Air Ambulance Trust shop on Fore Street, past Fairplace Church, around Simmons Park, down Mill Road and back to the air ambulance shop.It has been quite different from his previous marathons which have seen him take in cityscapes in Barcelona, Madrid, Bournemouth, London and Exeter, in the company of thousands of other people. Here he was the only one, so naturally came first — and has the Lego medal given to him by one young wellwisher at the finish to prove it. Mark decided to take on the challenge as the Edinburgh Marathon, which was to have been his last, did not go ahead because of the pandemic.‘I have had knee trouble so I have had had eight months of hardly anything really,’ he said. ‘I was not going to do one at all but because I had raised more than £1,000 towards Edinburgh on my conscience, which people had given me in donations to the air ambulance, I thought I should do something. So I decided to run a marathon in my home town as my final one.‘I was expecting it to be quite monotonous, doing laps, but in actual fact it was amazing. The support from everyone was so tremendous, I was quite emotional. ‘There were people around at different places around the town. My partner, mum, sister and her husband were all at different points around the town and there were other people who have seen me train in town who were out cheering me on. It was a tremendous support and in all honesty it was as enjoyable as any of the marathons I have done. It was a great day.’This marathon in laps raised £2,775 for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust, bumping up Mark’s total to an impressive £10,465 for the charity which came to his rescue when he had an accident at home in Okehampton back in 2014.Falling from height onto a patio, he can remember little about the incident in which he was left needing 16 stitches to the top of his head and breaking three vertebrae in his back. Airlifted swiftly by air ambulance to Derriford Hospital, he recovered and has since set about repaying the charity that ensured the accident was not a whole lot worse.‘I live near Okehampton Rugby Club and so many times I’ve seen in the air ambulance landing in the rugby club grounds. In a rural area like this, it is really important for the people who need it.’A champion cross-country runner and sprinter in his youth, Mark decided his challenge would be marathon running. Embarking on the training, he has found that distance running was quite challenging.He says what has spurred him on though has been the support around the town. He has undertaken much of his training in Okehampton and up onto the moors and says it is ‘pretty much the same people every time’ who have supported his fundraising efforts. ‘People’s generosity has been amazing,’ he said. ‘I can’t thank people enough for their support with all their donations. That is the hard part; running is the easy bit but people putting their hands in their pockets, at what has been a difficult time. I’m in awe of people, I really am.’ He says this is definitely his last marathon — ‘I’m hanging up my running shoes. I joke to people that I might do a sky dive next!’ Search for ‘Mark Hawkins on justgiving.com.