A FORMER Alton man and his mum will be running the Virgin London Marathon this weekend in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Aaron Fowler, 26, a freelance journalist at Sky Sports News, is registered blind. He has a guide dog called Banwell - a six-year old black Labrador who is his first guide dog, and the two have been together for four years.

Mr Fowler, who still has family and friends in Alton and was a pupil at Wootey Infant School before moving to Yateley, has a visual impairment called retinitis pigmentosa which causes tunnel vision and night blindness. He also has less than five degrees of peripheral vision in both eyes.

He also has macula odema which is a build up of fluid behind the centre of the eye and cataracts.

Aaron said: “This will be my first time running the London Marathon and I decided to run for Guide Dogs for the Blind as I would like to give something back to the amazing charity that gave me Banwell.”

Aaron will be running the London Marathon with mum Julie as his guide runner.

Julie, who went to Eggar’s School, is a keen runner and ran the London Marathon in 2011. She works for 3C Environmental technology in Yateley.

The pair have been busy training since January and run three or four times a week.

Aaron said: “We do our shorter runs during the week in the gym at Everyone Active’s Frogmore Leisure Centre. The staff at the gym have been very supportive.

“We do our long runs on the weekend outside. We completed the Wokingham Half-Marathon in February with a time of two hours seven minutes but the Fleet half was cancelled in March due to the snow.”

Aaron has currently raised around £1,800 toward his £2,000 target and has lots of events planned to add to the pot.

To support Aaron, visit his fundraising page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=aaronandjulielondonmarathon&pageUrl=9&isTeam=true.