He made history by becoming the youngest person with Down syndrome to complete the London Marathon – but that’s only half the story

He made history by becoming the youngest person with Down syndrome to complete the London Marathon – but that’s only half the story

Vaseline

A young man who made history in the London Marathon with a new world record is now being honoured for his incredible fundraising work. Lloyd Martin became the youngest person with Down syndrome to complete a marathon.

He discovered his love of running after completing a junior parkrun in Cardiff on Christmas Day 2017 – and despite it raining the whole time, Lloyd (then 13) loved it. Lloyd then set his sights on and completed the London Marathon, raising almost £20,000 for charity.

Lloyd said: “I wanted to fulfil my ambition of running a marathon, like my mother, and also raise money for the two charities that helped me achieve my goal.”

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When he completed the marathon at the age of 19, his mother Ceri said: “In Lloyd’s words, it’s achieving his dream… Absolutely anything is possible if you put your mind to it. With a bit of work you can achieve it.”

He held the Guinness World Record for the youngest person to complete a marathon in category II2, the category for ‘challengers with an intellectual disability and a significant additional disability’, including Down syndrome.

Lloyd first came into contact with running through Parkrun(Image: Ceri Hooper)
He had his mother by his side(Image: Ceri Hooper)


Lloyd almost doubled his original fundraising target of £10,000 and received almost 1,000 donations for Special Olympics Great Britain and Stepping Stones DS, a charity that supports young people with Down syndrome.

He has now been nominated by the public and selected by judges to be a finalist in the Teen Fundraiser of the Year category at the 2024 JustGiving Awards. You can vote for Lloyd here. The awards will be held in London in September.

Lloyd said he wanted to raise money for Stepping Stones DS, which got him involved in activities from babyhood, and Special Olympics GB, which set up sports groups where he could take part in competitive sports.