Tom's mission to raise funds for military charity

Tom Mason is putting his body on the line in next month's Mont-Blanc 80km ultra endurance race in the Chamonix Mont-Blanc Valley in France.

He is aiming to raise as much money as possible for the '353' charity, set up in memory of 22-year-old Private Conrad Lewis, from Warwickshire, who was the 353rd British soldier to be killed in Afghanistan when he died on February 9, 2011.

Beginning at 4am on June 26, Mr Mason, who is from Codsall, will have 24 hours to complete the gruelling course, which will cover a challenging 6,000 metres of vertical climb along 80 stunning kilometres of ridges, snow fields, Swiss territory and glaciers.

The 49-year-old, who describes himself as 'an average runner at best', said his inspiration for the event had been a talk given by Private Lewis' father as part of the charity programme at Sainsbury's, where Mr Mason works as a project manager.

He said: "We sat down and were listening and I thought, if you can come back from losing your son and how devastating that must have been, to set up a charity to help rehabilitate other injured service people, if you can do that then I know full well I can do an event to raise some money to help you out.

"This race came along and it is 50 miles, which is quite symbolic really as I am 50 in a few months myself."

To make a donation search 'Tom Mason' in the 'sponsor a fundraiser' section of mydonate.bt.com