Revealed: The curious case of marathon man Mark Vaz

It all began in April of last year, when he set out his plan to run 90 marathons in 90 days. He would be running for baby charity Tommy's, spurred on by the heartbreak him and his wife had suffered after seven miscarriages.

In the process of his mammoth challenge, the Penkridge window cleaner would also smash the world record for consecutive marathons on consecutive days, which stood at 52.

To continue on the 90 theme, Mr Vaz was also aiming to raise £90,000 for Tommy's.

He said he would continue with his window-cleaning round while undertaking the challenge and that he would begin the task on July 7.

Starting in Wolverhampton, his runs would take him through the likes of Walsall, Wheaton Aston, Rugeley, Rochester and Falmouth before finishing in Balloch in Scotland, the scene where he got married to his wife Tammy.

He had the route mapped out so he would be able to hand the information over to Guinness and claim the new world record.

By August, Mr Vaz claimed to have run more than 800 miles and it was understood that he had broken the record of number of consecutive ultra marathons run on consecutive days – a record that he does not hold according to the Guinness World Book of Records.

They say the record is held by American JC Santa Teresa.

Then it was reported that he had beaten the world record for consecutive marathons on consecutive days after he crossed the line at the Black Country museum to finish his 53rd marathon.

Again the Express & Star can reveal that Mr Vaz does not hold this record. The Guinness World Book of Records have Akinori Kusuda from Japan down as the record holder with 52 consecutive marathons – not Mr Vaz.

As October rolled around, Mr Vaz finished his '90 in 90' challenge in Chester – not Balloch – as he then proudly announced that he would be attempting a new challenge, 400 marathons in 365 days. Around the same time he also announced that he would be penning a book on his experiences – although no book is yet published.

Fast forward a week and Mr Vaz was again celebrating, this time as he crossed the line of his 100th marathon in just 97 days.

He completed the challenge in Royal Parks, London.

He was due to take some time off from running after the challenges to rest up, but by November he told the Express & Star he had run his 130th marathon. He added that he had not quite worked out the logistics for his 400 in 365 challenge as he continued to run marathons locally.

But there was no slowing down for Mr Vaz, who said he reached the 170 mark in December and then the halfway point in January earlier this year.

In the same month he also featured in a promotional video for Microsoft's new fitness band, which has been viewed over 177,000 times on YouTube. The tech giant have now distanced themselves from Mr Vaz, saying: "Mark Vaz featured in promotional activity earlier this year.

In February Mr Vaz allegedly broke the record for the number of marathons run in a year when he completed his 240th, but again Guinness has a separate runner listed as the record holder.

Mr Vaz had previously said on numerous occasions he would be running from Lands End to John O' Groats in an attempt to break the world record. He said he would complete the challenge in March, but had to pull out due to injury. It was around this time that his coach, Steve O'Brien, said he developed doubts as Mr Vaz would not discuss the injury or reveal any data that he requested, something Mr Vaz strongly denies.

He reattempted the challenge this month and claimed to finish it in world record time, but has now said he will not be submitting the information to Guinness to claim the world record as all he wanted was to raise money and awareness for charity.

Despite the damaging questions over Mr Vaz's achievements, he must be given credit for the money he has raised for charity – something he has repeatedly said was the core reason for taking on these challenges.

At the time of writing he has raised over £2,000 for Make A Wish, the charity he picked for his LEJOG run. They say they are receiving the money in 'drips and drabs' as that is how money is released by Virgin Giving and they have no doubt that 'the money will come'.