A devoted husband is running 10 kilometres every day for 62 consecutive days to raise money for a leading cancer charity in memory of his wife of 36 years.

Laurie Johnston set himself the target after his wife Lin, 62, died from breast cancer in March following a four-year struggle against the disease.

The 66-year-old father will be raising money for Cancer Research UK while he racks up 620 kilometres, finishing his challenge the day before what would have been Lin’s 63rd birthday on Thursday, November 9.

Laurie upped his routine to three or four runs a week while looking after Lin in the last months of her life because it gave him “relief” and kept him fit.

He has since been building up his weekly average in preparation for the challenge, which Laurie starts on Friday, September 8.

Mr Johnston said: “People tell me it’s either a good idea or a stupid idea.

“Lin would think it’s pretty stupid, but she’d support it.

“She’d like me to carry on with my life as much as possible.”

The couple met while working together at a computer centre in Fulham Broadway in the 1970s and started dating a year later. Four years later, they were married.

“She loved people,” Mr Johnston said. “She was friendly – quiet, but outgoing.

“She had a good sense of humour and told a good story.

“She was kind – people used to like that about her.”

Lin and Laurie enjoyed 36 years of marriage, during which they had one son, Mark, a pilot who recently got his captain wings.

After Mark’s birth Lin stopped working full-time, Mr Johnston explained, but did a number of part-time jobs including cake-decorator, flower arranger, and a receptionist for companies in Chessington.

But four years ago, Lin developed an aggressive form of breast cancer that, from the outset, doctors said they could manager but never really cure.

Lin underwent chemotherapy at Cancer Centre London in Wimbledon. The centre’s staff helped inspire Mr Johnston to run and raise money for a cancer charity.

He said: “We were there for the last four years having treatment.

“While we were there they were almost part of the family we were in so often.

“People at the hospital knew us: from the receptionist to the chemo team to the doctors and nurses.

“They were fantastic. They were not doom and gloom. They were trying to make people as cheerful as possible.

“Donating to them seems to be the obvious choice.”

To donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/laurie-johnston