A TOTALLY blind Army veteran completed the London Marathon - and said he could have kept on going.

Wali Noori, 30, and from Colchester, said the experience on Sunday was “super duper” and he was “laughing until the end”.

The dad-of-three, who lost his sight because of a Taliban bomb, began training for the famous race five months ago after hearing about guide runners.

These are sighted runners who can assist visually impaired runners around the 26.2 mile course.

Wali said: “When I completed it – my first marathon – I was ready for another one straight away.

“I was full of energy.

“I was laughing all the way to the end.”

Wali was guided by Colchester running coach Gareth Gailey, with whom he has been training since December.

Wali didn’t know he’d crossed the finish line either.

“I didn’t know – Gareth said ‘Sit down, sit down’.”

Wali grew up in Afghanistan and moved to the UK with his family three years ago after having worked there as a British Army interpreter.

He suffered devastating injuries after he was caught by a Taliban improvised explosive device while on patrol.

The 2009 blast left him in a coma and cost him his sight.

Wali said: “I used to be a good boxer and good runner when I was sighted.

“When I got injured I couldn’t continue boxing, I couldn’t continue running in my country, there was nowhere to run.”

Wali started to go to the gym in Colchester where he was seen running on the treadmill and he was told about guide runners.

His key worker at the Help for Heroes’ veterans charity put him in touch with Gareth.

As part of his training, Wali completed the Colchester Half Marathon in March in one hour, 49 minutes.

He has also taken part in 5k Parkruns in the area.

Wali even said his marathon completion time of four hours and 36 minutes was hampered by the crowded course was and that it was difficult to overtake other runners.

He is determined to run the marathon again next year and to “smash” his completion time down to between three and three and a half hours.

Wali has three children, the youngest of whom is just two months-old.

Wali now works as a sensory awareness trainer for Essex Cares Limited.

Gareth added: “From my point of view it was hard work but really rewarding.

“For Wali, the crowd support was probably amplified for him to feed off and he was on cloud nine.”