SWINDON’S mayor is taking on the London Marathon to spread the word about the impact exercise can have on the fight against diabetes.

Junab Ali, mayor since May, has taken up the challenge after seeing the positive effects running and exercise can have on managing the condition.

He took up exercise after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in a bid to beat it.

“My family and business commitments often meant not getting round to exercising,” Mr Ali said.

“My parents were diabetic, and I thought I am young and didn’t need to worry about health until I am perhaps in my 60s,” he said.

But after he was diagnosed with diabetes unexpectedly in 2012, the mayor was forced to make drastic changes to his diet to bring down his blood sugar levels.

But they didn’t have the desired effect.

“I have taken all the precautions I can – from changing my diet, drinking less coffee and carbonated drinks, eating little and often and cutting down on my smoking, stopping taking sugar, so doing as much as I could.”

In 2017 he was sent on a diabetes awareness course designed to help educate those newly-diagnosed that suggested more strenuous exercise.

“After the first day of the course, I joined running group the Swindon Shin Splints and slowly gained the bug to run with a team of ordinary people all wanting to get a little fitter and make new friends,” he said.

“That worked for me. It was infectious.

"I now fit training into my life. I’ve stopped finding excuses not to keep motivated.”

Mr Ali added: “I took up running because of health reasons but it also inspired me to run for very good local causes at the same time – so a double-whammy.

“Doing a short brisk walk or jogging helps so much and now I want to advocate widely that anyone with an illness can benefit from making some effort.”

The mayor will be joining keen runners in the Swindon Half Marathon in September and has set himself the ultimate challenge to compete in the 2019 London Marathon, which takes place in April 2019.

He will raise money for three local charities, community radio station Swindon 105.5, the mental health charity-run gardens Twigs, and refugee charity The Harbour Project.

In Swindon, an estimated 7.7 per cent of people are living with diabetes, according to the latest figures from Public Health England, or more than 13,500 people.

Swindon has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the south central region, second only to Slough.