TWO brothers from Swindon who made it into the national spotlight last year after their staggering weight loss are now half way through their ambitious 2016 running challenge.

After successfully completing the Bath half marathon in March, Mark and Ian Kenna, from North Swindon, conquered twice that distance at the Brighton marathon last weekend.

As if that wasn’t enough, after only a week to recover they will line up with thousands of other nervous runners on Sunday as they prepare to cover another 26.2 miles in London.

The pair set out to raise an ambitious £5,000 for Cancer Research UK through their efforts this year, which will be rounded off with a 100km endurance race in July.

Ian, 36, said: “It was our first marathon so we didn’t really know what to expect, but it was certainly a wakeup call – our illusions about marathons were shattered put it that way.

“Conditions weren’t great on the day with the heat and it was hard, really hard – but we got through it.”

Mark, 43, added: “I certainly underestimated the marathon and have a new found respect for every single person who crosses that line.

“We dug deep and thought of the people that we've personally lost to cancer which, along with my brother's support, got me over the line.

“Seriously inspirational and emotional in equal measures, a day I will never, ever forget.”

While most people preparing to run in London this weekend will be slowly tapering off their training ahead of the event, Mark and Ian are just trying to recover in time.

It’s often said that it takes a day per mile to fully recover from a marathon, however they only had six.

Ian said: “Our training before Brighton was textbook, but this week we’re looking at each other just wondering what we’re supposed to be doing.

“It’s hard to know if we’re supposed to be sitting back and relaxing or doing something else – I think we’re both keen to do at least 15 or 20 minutes on Friday just to make sure our legs still work.”

When they started their journey to this point, Ian weighed 25 stone and was wearing XXXL t-shirts. Mark weighed in at 18.5 stone and was settled in an inactive lifestyle.

The progress they have made over the last three years is nothing short of inspirational.

Looking back, Ian said: “We never started this challenge to hit personal bests or set records, we wanted to improve our lifestyles and hopefully raise some money along the way.

“The goal was always to finish – I would never, ever have imagined finishing one marathon back then let alone approaching a second in a week.”

Mark added: “After losing 20 stone between us, running the Bath Half and the Brighton Marathon, we are so happy to be running in London on Sunday.

“We've smashed our fundraising goal of £5,000 and our total is up to £7,500 – it would be great if we could reach £8,000 by Sunday.

“We really want to say thank you to everyone who has supported us, they’ve been wonderful.”

If you want to get behind the Kenna brothers ahead of the next stage of their amazing journey you can visit www.justgiving.com/KennaBrothers