The 30-year-old cerebral palsy sprinter had his National Lottery funding slashed by UK Athletics after an injury restricted him to sixth place at the Paralympics in Beijing in 2008.

That cost him £1,500 a month and now the college where he is studying English and maths have stepped in to help him by holding a series of events.

These included a raffle, auction, lucky dip, weekly weigh-in Club and manicures, to fund his trip to Dubai to compete in the Al Ain 4th International Athletics Meeting.

He said: "I’m really looking forward to going to Dubai and hoping to hit my target time.

"I want to try and get back to full fitness and see where it takes me.

"I desperately want to try and get back to where I was because I've won medals at the Paralympics before.

"I'm really looking forward to this year - it's going to be hard and tough for me but I'm back into the training and it seems to be going well."