A man from Bucks was the last to finish the London Marathon on Sunday after completing the route facing backwards.
But it is for a fantastic reason Tom Harrison, from Amersham, is celebrating the unusual experience which saw him raise £3,000 for the Red Cross in Ukraine.
This year a record 48,000 runners set off for the gruelling 26.2 mile journey through London, with the fastest male runner Kelvin Kiptum finishing in just over two hours while the fastest woman Sifan Hassan won with two hours 18 minutes and 33 seconds.
Mr Harrison finished his sixth marathon in around 12 hours at 11.38pm.
The most difficult moments included accidentally walking the wrong way and having to turn back, which added an extra mile to his already long day.
“That was difficult, and where it was narrow couple of bits of pavement slab were lumpy and few people around made navigating a bit harder," he said.
After the ‘tailwalkers’ supporting the last runners were picked up in a minibus, he felt “a little bit lonely, because it was just me all of a sudden,” he said.
“Once I got up to the Tower of London it got busy with people and I felt more part of London life, although people probably wondering why there was a guy walking along the river path 10 o’clock at night backwards, but hey it’s London!”
READ MORE: Amersham: Dad set to cover London Marathon backwards for Ukraine
It made him see London “a little bit differently.”
“Being that much further behind everybody normal London life was happening again, people getting back to driving on the roads, but it was nice because I surprised a few people. There were people still at the pubs, who would have watched the marathon as it went past, I surprised them I was still going.
“They asked ‘are you walking backwards’, are you still doing the marathon. That was nice actually, a little bit of surprise and entertainment for everybody,” the fundraising champion added.
Inside one of the marquees he met amputee and Ukrainian serviceman Roman, who had come to London to run before returning “back to Ukraine and fight on the front line,” Mr Harrison said.
“It puts it into perspective.
“I said, ‘you keep fighting and I’ll keep fundraising’.”
To his delight and surprise, one tailwalker, who had stayed behind, accompanied Mr Harrison across the separate finish line in St James' Park designed for runners who take more than seven hours.
“I was officially the last. That’s an achievement in itself, but I was first of the backwards walkers, so it was nice to be first and last.
“There’s honour in coming last.”
Video courtesy of Tom Harrison.
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