A run for the missing

THE 56,000 runners setting out on today's London Marathon will have one simple thought - to make it to the end, and then get home.

- BY JACKIE ANNETT

But every year in the UK, three times that number - 170,000 people - don't get home. Instead, they join the ranks of the missing, their families left not knowing if their loved one is dead or alive.

And for some of today's runners, that figure is more than just a statistic.

Among them is Tom Wheeler, a 19-year-old university student raising money for the charity Missing People - after his dad Matt went missing in February last year.

He and his family later discovered Matt had taken his own life. But Tom is still scarred too by the agony of his dad's disappearance. He says: “It’s hard to describe what it feels like when someone you love goes missing, no matter how old you are.

“Whether it’s your child, parent or partner, it's gut-wrenching, devastating. My world flipped upside down.”

Tom, from Farnham, Surrey, had aimed to raise £2,500 in today's race for Missing People - but has already doubled that.

His total of more than £5,000 could help to reunite 10 families.

He worries, though, that a couple of serious injuries could hinder him. Tom says: “I never expected to raise that much and I'm so grateful.

“It will mean the absolute world for the families the charity could help. I have a couple of bad injuries so it’s not going to be easy but I'll be thinking of Dad to try and get me through.