A Croxley Green councillor who ran a half marathon has raised more than £2,500 and smashed his target time by four minutes, despite an injury getting in the way of his training.

Chris Lloyd, liberal democrat ward-councillor for Croxley Green North, took part in the Royal Parks Half Marathon as part of a team of 26 Christian Aid runners.

Collectively they have raised £10,000 for the charity, with more than a quarter of that figure coming from councillor Lloyd alone.

A regular runner, councillor Lloyd found his training interrupted for two months in April by an Achilles injury.

He said: “I've had twinges from it ever since, but I've been swimming a lot which has proved useful, and on the day it felt fine, no problem at all.

“I thought it would be a challenge, you do actually have to do some training for a half marathon, and Christian Aid do a lot of good work in a number of different countries.”

“The race goes around Trafalgar Square and Big Ben, it was a very positive experience and I was very pleased to help.”

Councillor Lloyd has raised £2,576 for Christian Aid so far, and more than £250 for the Amos Trust, which works with street children in Durban, South Africa.

As well as raising the spectacular sum he also smashed his target time of two hours, crossing the finish line in one hour 56 minutes and 35 seconds.

He added: “I was on the first train out of Croxley Green on Sunday morning and all the other passengers were runners too.

“If anyone wants to do a half marathon I recommend it, it's well organised and great for spectators as the course loops around at several points.”