One down - two to go!

Kent Air Ambulance Trust (KAAT) press officer Antony Masters has successfully completed the first stage of his bid to run three marathons over the next six months.

The former kmfm group news editor, who lives in Ashford, is taking on the gruelling challenge to raise funds for the charity he now works for.

He completed the New York City Marathon on Sunday in a time of 4 hours 29 minutes.

New York was the first of three marathons that Antony intends running over the next six months in a bid to raise awareness of the charity and raise funds to keep the emergency service operating.

He joined thousands of others setting off in the Big Apple marathon on Staten Island before the course snaked its way through New York suburbs like Brooklyn, The Bronx and Queens to the finish line in Central Park.

The 35-year-old can now add this marathon to his tally of three he had previously completed.

He now has to complete two more to succeed in his KAAT triple fund-raising challenge – Barcelona on March 7 and Brighton on April 18, both in 2010.

Antony said: “The New York Marathon was simply awesome, it’s one of the world’s greatest road races and although I wasn’t racing anyone else but my own personal time it was still pretty electric.”

Antony has launched a justgiving profile to help raise as much money for KAAT as possible. You can make a donation by logging on to www.justgiving.com/antonymasterskent