A Glasgow man's lockdown challenge has raised £1000 for MS Society Scotland in memory of his father, who also suffered from the disease. 

David Mathers challenged himself to complete consecutive half marathons with a target of raising £200.

He has since raised a total of £1000 while hosting live online acoustic music sets to raise the funds. 

Glasgow Times:

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David started fundraising for the charity a number of years ago, including running the Edinburgh and London Marathons.

He said: “It’s been a really humbling experience. I’ve done bits and pieces of fundraising before but to hit such a great total in a really short space of time is unbelievable.

“A huge thank you to everyone who’s donated and to all my family, I’d never be able to do this kind of thing without them on my team.

“I was keen to do something during lockdown to raise funds and my wife suggested doing the two runs over fathers’ day as it could be done safely and distanced which was a great idea.

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“It meant I was able to keep it really local which was great – the first half marathon was in the local area and the second was around our estate.

“I’ve been doing a few music sessions online since lockdown started so I decided to hold another one on the first evening and the response has been fantastic. We also hosted a distanced table top sale which boosted funds even further.”

More than 15,000 people in Scotland have MS, one of the highest rates of the condition in the world.

David continued: “Supporting MS Society Scotland is definitely a cause close to my heart. My dad had MS and our family saw how the condition can affect people and back then there weren’t many options for treatment.

“That’s always at the back of my mind when I do these kinds of things – that we can find ways of stopping MS or finding treatments to help people now.

“At a time like this it’s even more important to keep raising funds and support people in our communities who might be affected even more by lockdown and being isolated from others.

Glasgow Times:

“My dad’s mobility was quite badly affected by his MS but he continued to lead a great social life and was a real character. I know he would have been delighted and amazed at what’s now available to treat MS.

“That’s the reason I do these events. We’re living through a bit of a crisis but there’s definitely something we can do and it doesn’t need to be something big.

“My dad gave me a passion for sport and for music and it’s been great to use both in raising funds for such a good cause.”

If you’d like to support David’s challenge and raise money for MS Society Scotland, visit here.