Eastleigh MP runs for the Mayor's charities

9.54.08am GMT Tue 18th Mar 2008

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne ran in the Eastleigh 10 kilometre road race on Sunday to raise money for the Mayor's two charities - Naomi House children's hospice and Liberty Child (special holiday for special kids).

Chris who is pictured here on the run (attached) raised £670 for the Mayor's appeal in sponsorship from people across the borough. "It was a mixture of people who wanted to help the charities and people who wanted to give me a hard time" said Chris.

"The best bit of the race was the home-cooked fruit cake afterwards" said Chris, who ran the race in just under 56 minutes. "Given the sedentary lifestyle of an MP, the surprise is not that I did it well, but that I did it at all without triggering a by-election".

"In a rash and unguarded moment, I promised our Mayor, Roger Smith, that I would run. It is probably not the sort of thing that middle-aged men like me ought to start doing, but the idea is to help raise money for the Mayor's local charity appeal this year and Roger is nothing if not persuasive" said Chris.

"I enjoyed the race even though it was drizzling most of the time: in fact I got wetter running through a puddle in Shakespeare Road than I did from the rain. And you certainly feel a glow at the end."