DESPITE falling over a few times, Mark Mathews completed his 5km backward charity run through the woods in an impressive 39mins 23secs.

Mark chose to run his 100th Forest of Dean Park Run at Five Acres backwards in order to raise money for the Great Oaks Hospice.

He said: "My neck was sore from turning around all the time, but I had two people running with me to guide me, my son Josh and my friend Tony Pownall.

"Running backwards puts a completely different strain on the body because your thighs effectively become your hamstrings.

"It's quite a tough course and I did go down a few times.

"My groin ached a bit and it was a bit disorientating, but generally it wasn't too bad."

Although Mark's Park Run time was double what it usually would be, he managed to beat a couple of runners who were facing the right way.

In practise, he completed the backwards 5km run in 33mins.

The Forest of Dean Athletics Club runner even took part in a track & field competition for his club the following day.

In the months leading up to Saturday, plumber Mark has been baking cakes himself and selling them on the Park Runs to raise funds for the Great Oaks Hospice.

He now has around £225 to hand over, with further donations to come.

He's not resting on his laurels and is planning to put together a team of eight to 12 runners to take part in a 24hour Park Run.

One thing's certain, they won't be doing it backwards.