FOR some hardened runners successfully completing one marathon in a year would be regarded as a major achievement.

But a Peebles minister has his sights firmly set on comprehensively outstripping that feat by competing in one of the long-distance events every month of next year.

Barry Hughes, 49, is undertaking the challenge to raise funds for the Peebles branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“I have run nine marathons in the last few year and I got to thinking about how many I could do in 2015 - the year of my 50th birthday,” he said.

“Then I got the idea to run one every month and I decided to do it for MS as I have a family member who is affected by it.

“It was quite easy to plan it all out as there are plenty of marathons all over the country and abroad.” Mr Hughes, a member of Moorfoot Runners, will travel to Europe as part of his assignment to take part in an event in Luxemburg but all of the others will be in the UK.

“I’m starting off at Liverpool on New Year’s Day and in March I’ll actually be running on my birthday in Aberdeen,” he said.

He will run at Aberfeldy in September but all the other marathons are in England, including several in the north east as well as Chester, Leeds and Liverpool again.

The only month when he is not fixed up for an official marathon is August when he will instead run the 26 miles 385 yards around the Peeblesshire countryside.

The plan is probably to start in Manor Valley and follow the Tweed Valley down through Peebles and Innerleithen. “The idea is that some of my running friends will come with me on that one,” he said.

Mr Hughes works at TSB in Edinburgh and is a minister at the Old Parish Church in Peebles but still finds the time to put in the training for his long-distance running.

“I train a lot and the training will take care of itself for the marathons as each one will be a training run for the next one,” he said.

Mr Hughes has no target for his fund-raising, just to bring in as much as possible. He has already made a good start, having collected around £1,700. Donations can be made to https://www.justgiving.com/barry-hughes7.