Charlie Exton, a member of Hereford Athletics Club’s British Championship Team and a defence specialist at Porcher Industries, believes his company’s newly developed next generation blast resistant fabric is so light that he ran the London Marathon in a T-­shirt and socks made from the material.

Despite the soaring temperatures and ‘little’ serious training, Charlie Exton completed the London Marathon in just over four hours for Hereford Athletic Club’s British Championship team.

And the special t-shirt and socks proved perfectly up to the task – despite being made of a special para-aramid fibre originally used for bullet-proof vests.

“My support team took air temperatures of over twenty-six degrees on the course and the tarmac temperature was approaching forty degrees, but I had no real issues in terms of cooling and comfort, or the weight of the t-shirt and socks,” says Charlie. “Considering they’re designed for ballistic protection, that’s pretty amazing.”

Charlie now plans to further trial the next generation para-­aramid protective garments in a gruelling 100km Ultra Marathon later this year.