A MAN from Zeal Monachorum will run 190 miles from the village to Walsall to raise money for Water Aid.

Darren Chandler has raised money for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust in the past, organising music festival events at the Waie Inn, in Zeal Monachorum.

Now he has switched his attention to helping Water Aid. He will run from his home in Zeal Monachorum to his grandfather's house in Walsall, clocking up 190 miles on his trip.

He said: 'I recently saw an advert for the charity and it upset me, to be honest. In the three years I have organised the charity music festival for the air ambulance, we have raised £2,000.

'But I cannot play any instruments, so I wanted to do something that was all on me.

'I've been training for the run for a month so far, and I have three more months of intense training at the gym in Okehampton before the start date in January.

'It will just be me for the majority of the run, but a mate is hoping to join me at some point, and my family will be following me throughout the run in their cars.'

Water Aid is dedicated to the provision of safe, domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the world's poorest people — 783 million people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one tenth of the world's population. And 2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation, almost two fifths of the world's population. The charity works in 27 countries across Africa, Asia and Central America to help combat this.

Darren starts his challenge on January 30, 2013, aiming to finish the challenge by February 9.