A MAN from Monmouthshire has completed his challenge of running 31 half marathons in as many days throughout December to raise money for a homelessness charity.

James Peters said he decided that he wanted to raise money for charity Crisis after seeing so many homeless people around Britain.

The husband and father-of-two from Raglan has raised more than £1,700 - and says he would like to hit the £2,000 mark.

“Typically, every supermarket in every city that I went to had a homeless person outside,” Mr Peters said. “This has got much worse over the last few years, to the point where foodbanks are now considered the norm.

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"A favourite phrase of mine is ‘the standard you walk past is the standard you accept’.”

He said the month had proven to be just as challenging as he expected as he balanced looking after his two sons, aged three and one, with the physical struggle of completing the half marathons.

Mr Peters completed the run at 5am each morning, getting up at 4.30am to start the gruelling 21 kilometres, or 13 miles.

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Mr Peters during one of his early morning half marathons

“I’d do the run each morning and then come back home to get the kids ready for school before going to work,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without the support of my wife Nicky.”

He said one of his biggest challenges was making sure he was back at home before his sons were awake to open their presents on Christmas morning, adding: “I really wanted to get out and back before they opened the gifts, which I’m pleased was successful.”

Mr Peters, who is now a little sore but is still running every day, says more needs to be done to address a growing trend of homelessness across the country.

“So many people are now in work and are still not earning enough money to pay the bills," he added. "We all probably know someone who is struggling, and we’re now in 2020 – over a decade since the financial crash.

“I think social care, benefits, the health service, zero-hour contracts and the minimum wage all need to be addressed. I know that Crisis does all it can to address these issues and urges the government to take action.”

You can donate to Mr Peters by visiting his Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/James-Peters11