Mansfield Town

The 44-year-old completed the course in a very respectable five hours and 37 minutes, passing some of the country’s finest landmarks on his way to the finishing line.

Super-slimmer Stuart lost a whopping 22 stone in the space of only 16 months, but his heroic status reached new heights by getting through the 36th iconic London Marathon race.

“I’m feeling very sore, stiff and elated this morning! It was such an amazing feeling coming over that finishing line, but it’s emotionally draining and rewarding at the same time,” he said.

The Kirkby-in-Ashfield-based man volunteers as the scoreboard operator at One Call Stadium and was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis in the build-up to the run. However, he battled on throughout, even though the marathon itself did have some hurdles that he had to overcome.

“For the first 14-15 miles, my legs were fine and good. I hit a bit of an ‘ouch’ moment in mile 20 and my calf started seizing up, so I had to stop and have a massage.

“After that, I was taking in the crowd – you just ‘suck it up’ and get round. You see people running past you with the words ‘in memory of’ at the back of their vests and it’s emotional to see the reasons why people are running.

“The crowd were amazing, there’s no superlatives to describe how they get you on by cheering your name. Lots of local pubs have bands on which adds to the atmosphere.”

Stuart was also given a timely reminder of the club towards the latter part of the jog, which was a welcome moment.

“I was going past one pub on mile 23 which was playing Kings of Leon’s ‘Sex on Fire’ which I was changing to ‘Stags’!

“The other runners were also great. They were giving me a pat on the back and saying ‘go on pal, you can do it’.”

Stuart conceded that his ‘legs are saying no but his head is saying yes’ when the question of whether he would do the marathon again was asked.

There is still time to sponsor Stuart and his team for their superb charitable endeavours in aid of Cancer Research UK. They’ve surpassed their £12,000 target and you can donate by visiting his JustGiving page.