Northampton runner's personal tribute to friend whose funeral was restricted by coronavirus

A keen runner from Northampton came up his own way to pay tribute to a friend whose funeral he was not allowed to attend because of the coronavirus lockdown.

Chris Lamb decided to run a one-kilometre lap around the Obelisk Rise estate 34 times for his pal, Tom Rawsthorne, who died of cancer aged 34 last month.

The route went past Tom's old house where he lived with his parents and Chris' challenge was completed on the morning of Tom's funeral on March 25.

"Because it was such a short lap, there weren't many milestones so each time I passed his house was another lap," he said.

"And 11am that day was when we would be seeing the hearse off so every time I went past, I knew that moment was getting closer which was emotional."

Chris and Tom had been friends since attending Kingsthorpe Middle School together and ended up living around the corner from each other.

Tom was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and initially recovered after undergoing chemotherapy.

But in 2017, the disease returned on the day he got the keys to his new house and he was told it was terminal.

Chris helped to raise more than £13,500 towards Tom's treatment by running 100km in 12 hours in 2018, taking in every football league stadium in London.

So when Tom died and the initial plans for a celebration of his life were scuppered by the Government guidelines during the coronavirus outbreak, Chris felt compelled to do something himself.

"I wanted to do something to mark the occasion because I couldn't go to the funeral but I couldn't travel either so it had to be something close to home," he said.

"This sort of made sense as it was a lap for every year of his life and I could follow the lockdown guidelines.

"Even though we knew for a long time that it was coming, it didn't make it any easier."

Chris, who regularly runs competitively in middle distances and obstacle courses, finished his challenge in around two and a half hours before watching a live stream of the funeral.