A BRAMPTON man is taking on a long-distance running challenge dressed as the Christmas fairy, to help his daughter and others combat a rare condition.

Ian Spriggs, 53, is aiming to run every road in Brampton, about 26.2 miles in total, on December 19 – doing circuits of the town for the last six miles.

He’s looking to raise money for the the National Society for Phenylketonuria (PKU), a charity that helps people with the rare condition.

Sufferers are unable to properly process proteins in day-to-day foods.

His daughter Molly, 16, has the condition.

The dad-of-two, who’s a caretaker at William Howard School, on Longtown Road, said: “I put it out and asked people what they wanted me to do, to run as Santa Clause or the Christmas fairy; something like that.

“When I got all the replies they said fairy so I thought I would be the most ridiculous fairy.

“The condition means you can’t break down excess protein in the body, if there is a build up of it you become brain damaged.

“We get a number of foods on prescription but then we have to go out and find a lot of other stuff – every single thing has to be weighed out.

“At Christmas dinner for example Molly would only be able to have vegetables.

“I have never come across a condition with a more restrictive diet.

“The charity is just run by a few volunteers and does not get help from Government.”

Ian said the charity was fighting to have the drug called Kuvan, dispensed by the NHS which he said would give her a “90 per cent normal eating life”.

Over the past four years he’s raised about £6,200 for the cause, through a number of running events.

In July Ian ran the length of Hadrian’s Wall, 84 miles, in 23 hours.

In April he ran about 14,000 lengths of a car park in Brampton.

Anyone who would like to donate go to: JustGiving page at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ian-spriggs4