A sugar cube and a shoe run the London Marathon

A man dressed as a sugar cube and another dressed as a shoe have taken part in the 2026 TCS London Marathon.

Richard Mayo and Karl Fitzpatrick from Jersey took part ran on Sunday to raise money for charity.

Mayo, dressed as a sugar cube, was aiming to raise money for Diabetes Jersey and raise awareness of about a rare form of diabetes, Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY), which has affected his family.

Fitzpatrick took on the challenge to raise money for Jersey Hospice Care as a tribute to the father of a close friend who was supported by the charity before he died.

Mayo said there was a point he thought he would not be able to run true to injury but he was a "stubborn sort of person".

He said: "I had a bit of a hip injury so it had actually stopped me from doing any running for about three or four weeks before the actual big day.

"[Spectators] just carry you through all the tough times, so it's just brilliant... It's a rollercoaster ride of emotions."

One of the key moments for Mayo was, just before going on to London Bridge, there was a group from charity Diabetes UK.

He said: "I think I probably had the loudest cheer out of the whole day because obviously I was carrying this thing relating to diabetes. It was fantastic."

caused by a mutation in a single gene and, if a child did inherit the mutation they wpuld generally go on to develop MODY before they were 25, whatever their weight, lifestyle or ethnic group.

Five of Mayo's seven siblings have MODY, which can cause extreme complications such as blindness and amputations if not correctly diagnosed.

Mayo said: "Life obviously goes on as long as you have the correct medication... but really my main objective was to help raise awareness.

"I'd like to think I've done my little bit to try and help raise awareness."

His original fundraising target was £2,000 but Mayo said he kept having to revise it because there were "so many generous people out there".

"We're up to about £6,500, and that is really going towards repaying and thanking Diabetes Jersey, the charity, for funding the genetic testing, which me and my brothers had to have last year," he said.

Fitzpatrick, dressed as a shoe, said it was a very hot day and the crowd seemed to be busier than he had ever seen.

"The spirit the London marathon... is just exceptional.

"Even the spectators were just loving the day, it was just a truly amazing day.

"Even from Guernsey, they were like: 'Oh, well done, Jersey; we're from Guernsey,' [ignoring the islands' frequent rivalry] so it was just phenomenal."

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