THE father of a Cwmbran man who died after being struck by a train completed the Paris marathon on Sunday - after training for it in secret.

Following the tragedy of losing his son Sam Nelson last year, 67-year-old John Nelson, known as Garay (CORR), decided to take part in the race.

His son Joe said his dad's achievement had been a positive thing for the family.

He said: “Only last year we lost my 36 year old brother in a tragic accident in Llantarnam so this was some good news for our family,”

He said that his father, who lives in Caerleon, is not a known runner and the last time he remembered seeing him take part in a race was the 1989 Caerleon fun run, which is about four miles in length.

“Dad trained in secret for the event only revealing what he was up to on Friday when he made his way by Eurostar to Paris," he added.

“He sent us a photograph as evidence and we are all really shocked.”

Mr Nelson completed the route in 5hr 29m 53s and told his family that “it was a long time to be running in 20c heat”.

Now it is the turn of Mr Nelson’s daughter, Elizabeth, also of Caerleon, who is preparing to run the London Marathon on April 26.

On her fundraising page, she said: “After the tragic loss of my beautiful brother Sam Nelson I'm running the London Marathon in aid of the mental health charity Mind."

She said that losing Mr Nelson had a "devastating" effect on our family.

“Running the marathon for Mind will help focus the grief and frustration on a positive outcome,” she added.

Online the 39-year-old university lecturer has already raised £3,117 for the charity.

An inquest into her brother’s death was held on February 19 at Gwent Coroner’s Court, where he was described as “successful”, working for BT and helping to run a business with his brother.

But it is thought that he took a shortcut on July 13 last year while taking a walk near his Llantarnam home and was hit by a train, killing him.

The inquest returned a verdict of misadventure.

To support Elizabeth Nelson’s fundraising effort visit http://tinyurl.com/runlizrun