A former athlete who was feeling the boredom of quarantine has spent his birthday completing a marathon in his six metre (19 foot) back garden and has raised over £20,000 for the NHS at the same time.

James Campbell, 32 (today), decided to put this Wednesday morning to much better use than most of us amid the coronavirus pandemic, after he tweeted to tell people that if he got at least 10,000 retweets he would attempt the impressive feat.

His post quickly went viral, racking up more than 54,000 retweets and likes, and now the sports masseuse and gym worker has completed the gruelling 26.2 mile run after starting it at 9am this morning.

The former javelin throwing from Cheltenham has so far raised over £20,000 ($24,800), smashing his initial £10,000 goal.

Before the marathon James said: “My work stopped in the last few weeks, as I’m sure it has for a lot of people, and by Monday afternoon I felt like I was starting to lose the plot a bit.

“I just thought ‘what is the most stupid thing I can do in isolation in my house, and what is the most painful thing I can put myself through? I took one look at the garden and thought ‘right, I’ll run a marathon’.

“I have never trained for a marathon, I have never thought about running a marathon before. The furthest I have run before is about 15 to 20km – but as long as I’m raising money, I don’t mind if I’m hurting myself.”

To donate: go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/james-campbell0104