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London Marathon champion Sabastian Sawe's parents have revealed their son has pledged to build them a house and purchase them a car. The newly crowned world record holder is also said to have promised to complete the construction of their church and help them fly abroad.

Sawe, 31, pocketed hundreds of thousands of pounds after claiming victory and shattering the marathon record by more than a minute with a sub-two-hour finish. Substantial bonuses are heading his way from the London Marathon organisers following his one-hour, 59-minute, 30-second performance.

First place earns £40.74k in prize money and the top time bonus - for a sub-two-hour, two-minute run - is £111.12k. There are also additional bonuses for breaking records: finishing first with a course record time earns another £18.52k, while winning with a world record run triggers a £92.58k bonus.

Sawe has consequently amassed over £320k from the organisers alone. Including contractual bonuses from sponsorship arrangements, particularly after competing in the new Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 shoes, it is widely reported that Sawe could earn up to £741k.

A portion of those earnings will go towards honouring the various pledges he made to his parents, Emily and Simion, who watched the race together from their home in rural Kenya. His father, Simion, expressed his astonishment afterwards, telling the BBC: "I did not expect he was going to break the record - that really surprised us all!

"I was afraid the runner from Ethiopia (Yomif Kejelcha, who finished 11 seconds behind Sawe in second on debut) would beat him, but when I saw Sabastian pull ahead, I became so excited I started celebrating and did not even watch the end of the race."

His mother, Emily, added: "I was very happy, I thanked God, I jumped around the house, I just didn't know what to do, I was very happy."

Regarding their son's promises, Simion said: "The truth is, he promised us that he's going to build us a house..." Emily interjected: "And he said he would buy a car, so we won't be walking on foot anymore." Sawe Snr continued: "He also promised he will finish building the church here - and that he will help us fly abroad."

His mother added: "We are planning to welcome him here at home, to have a celebration and a thanksgiving, because he has done wonders." Simion explained: "We wanted to have celebrations for him before, but he said, 'no, wait until I break the world record,' so now we will ask him if we are free to go ahead with the celebration."

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