The runners and crowds of supporters from the London Marathon have long departed the streets of the capital, but three days on from the event, there is one participant who is still out on the 26.2 mile course .

A man dressed as a gorilla, who calls himself Mr Gorilla, has yet to reach the halfway point, as he crawls his way around on his hands, feet and knees.

The fundraiser is in fact Metropolitan Police officer, Tom Harrison, and is crawling around the course to raise money for the Gorilla Organisation, a charity working at the forefront of gorilla conservation.

Crossing the 10 mile mark in Rotherhithe

Talking to the Mirror , he said: "I am crawling because I ran the marathon as a gorilla last year, and after visiting Rwanda and Uganda in November to see my brothers and sisters in the wild, I was inspired to challenge myself even further to raise awareness for gorilla conservation."

He hopes to have finished the course by Friday April 28.

On his fundrasing page, Mr Gorilla wrote: "I have practised crawling at least twice now.

"It was most unpleasant I can tell you.

"26.2 miles of crawling is going to be absolute purgatory, but, in for a penny and all that.

"Talking of pennies. Where are yours? Come on, cough up a few for the Gorillas Organisation."

Mr Gorilla is among four competitors raising money for the charity.

Senior fundraising executive for the Gorillas Organisation, Keith Leon, said: “Every year, we are amazed by the efforts our supporters will go to in order to help gorillas – and this year is no exception.

“The money raised by the four members of Team Gorilla will go where it is needed the most, helping support vitally-important conservation projects in Africa.

"What’s more, by running the course in their gorilla suits, they will help raise awareness of the perilous plight of gorillas in the wild.”

However, when he finally crosses the finishing line with blistered hands and knees, he won't be rewarded with a medal.

A London Marathon spokesman said: "Mr Harrison contacted us on April 13 and we advised him before the race that he had to cross the finish line on The Mall by 6.15pm (that’s eight hours and 15 minutes after the 10am start time) on Sunday, April 23 in order to count as an official finisher in the event.

"All participants are required to do this in order to be listed in the official results and to receive a finisher’s medal."

Regardless, Mr Gorilla is still going strong, taking to Twitter last night ( Tuesday April 25), he said he would be starting from the south side of Tower Bridge at 9.30 this morning (April 26).

The halfway point is just over the bridge towards Shadwell as the course heads towards Canary Wharf, meaning he should pass halfway today.

To donate to the cause, head to the fundraising page.

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