Brian takes on 31 marathons in 31 days

Brian Faulkner, a former head boy at Cookstown High School, has so far raised more than £18,000 for StreetVet which provides care for animals of homeless people - a problem made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Raised on Maloon Farm on the Orritor Road, he is now based in Suffolk, East Anglia, with wife Georgia and children Freya (16) and Seth (14).

He covered most of the 800 miles-plus on a mixture of roads, paths and cycling routes by himself, although his mum May and sister Gillian came over from Cookstown to support him during the first week of the challenge.

Brian, who cycled the route in 2012, stayed in B&B’s and at houses of friends, spending six or seven hours each day on the road.

He admitted to feeling a bit tired after completing the run on August 31, but said “it’s not as bad as people think”.

“I felt a bit washed out like recovering from a flu, but every day I felt better,” he said. Apart from suffering a “massive blister” which forced him to walk for three days, everything went very well. “I was lucky. I took it steady, not trying to be too smart. I likened it to a day’s work. I grew up on a farm and you worked from eight until six o’clock. It’s physical work you just keep going until the work is done. There are people who work harder every day.”

He has no future challenges in mind at the moment - “the wife would kill me”.