A 71-YEAR-OLD man who took more than seven hours to complete Bournemouth’s first marathon, has finally been presented with his medal.

The grandfather from Broadstone, was walking the 26.2 mile route to raise funds for Poole Town FC’s chosen charity the Wessex Cancer Trust.

Unfortunately for Barrie, he was timed out by the organisers as he did not finish before the official cut off time of 6hrs and 30 minutes so he didn’t get a medal.

But after the charity’s area manager Karen Rhys intervened, Barrie was finally presented with his medal at Poole football club last weekend.

He said: “I tried jogging once but I didn’t like it. Walking is the way forward if you ask me. I wore a pair of short welly boots that I bought from a charity shop for £1 and I only got one small blister on the top of my little toe.”

Barrie who has now raised a total of £1,600 has completed a total of 41 consecutive 26-mile cross country walks over the years for charity.

On behalf of Wessex Cancer Trust Karen Rhys said: “I would like to thank Barrie for raising such a terrific amount of money.