A 67 year old man from Truro has achieved the rare feat of completing a worldwide marathon challenge – while living with prostate cancer.

Mark Maidwell-Smith finished the Tokyo marathon to complete the six Star World Marathon Majors award, which can only be achieved by completing marathons in London, Berlin, Tokyo, New York, Boston and Chicago.

As a keen runner Mark always had the ambition to finish the set, but when was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022, he wasn’t sure if he ever would be able to achieve his goal.

Now having made the distance, Mark has been reflecting on his ‘greatest achievement’ and is using his experience to encourage men to get checked for the condition.

He said: “Honestly, it was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. Running is something I’ve always loved and while I’ve proved to myself that I can do it whilst living with prostate cancer, I do wish I’d got checked sooner.

“I’m really inspired by Sir Chris Hoy and the work he’s doing to raise awareness. My cancer isn’t as advanced as his, but it’ll always be with me.

“As well as promoting to the public, I’m a dentist and teach at the University of Plymouth’s dental clinic in Truro and I am really keen to share with students the value of work/life balance. It’s easy to think that you can just keep going but your health is the most important thing in the world. You need to look after yourself.

“I really didn’t know if I’d get through the Tokyo marathon, so I’d say it’s my proudest achievement to date.

“But if just one person reads or hears about my story and gets checked, that would probably overtake it into first place.”