Blind drummer Roy Turnham in 2.6 challenge raises thousands

Roy Turnham raised £3,300 for British Blind Sport with his marathon 26-hour drumming session

A blind drummer who took up the 2.6 challenge has raised thousands of pounds after keeping the beat for 26 hours.

Roy Turnham, 35, of Hull, who played blind football for England and went to the Paralympics in 2012, raised £3,300.

Mr Turnham said he wanted to help charities recuperate money lost from the London marathon being postponed due to coronavirus restrictions.

He said after the 26 hours he had "a dozen blisters on my hands".

Mr Turnham, an events co-ordinator for the Sight Support charity, said he only found out about the 2.6 challenge six days before his fundraising for British Blind Sport.

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He said: "I've been an athlete for a few years, playing football and I'm a drummer but with 26 hours drumming I'd no clue whether it was feasible.

"I did think it would be achievable but didn't have much time to doubt myself."

The marathon drumming session started at 11.26 BST on Sunday and finished at 13:26 the following day.

Roy Turnham represented England playing blind football and went to the Paralympics in 2012

Mr Turnham said he used an electric drum kit and a lot of the sound was muted.

"I've got over a dozen blisters on my hands and we were patching up my hands during the challenge.

"I'll not be able to do any critical thinking for the next couple of days after listening to all kinds of music for that amount of hours," he added.

Alaina MacGregor, of British Blind Sport, said: "Roy epitomises our aim of supporting people with a visual impairment to live an active life and we can't think of anyone better to spearhead our 2.6 challenge campaign."