Man to take on London Marathon with his cousins in memory of his ‘superhuman’ dad

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A man is set to run the London Marathon with his cousins to raise money for the charity which offered invaluable support to his “super human” father who died from cancer and previously completed the same event with his twin brother. His grandfather – Dr John Spence, 90 – took part in the first London Marathon and with little training managed a “crazy” time of three hours and eight minutes and his father and his identical twin brother, Graham Spence, 64, did the marathon in 2002, something which has stuck with Mr Spence. “We thought it would be a nice thing to do because when you’re 20 miles into a marathon and someone’s shouting out your dad’s name, it kind of gives you that extra bit of motivation.” When Mr Spence’s father and his twin brother ran the marathon, the pair stood out because of their colourful hairdos, largely thanks to cans of pink and purple hairspray. Mr Spence added that Maggie’s has also offered support, through sending “weekly check-ins to us to see how our training’s going and whether we need any support” and is “incredibly grateful” that they are running on behalf of it.