He has walked over fire, jumped out of planes and cycled through Brazil, now Gary McKee has set off on his toughest challenge to date.

The 47-year-old began his 100 marathons in 100 days task on Saturday when he left Cleator Moor's Ainfield Cycles, cheered on by family and friends.

The father-of-three will finish on April 23 when he takes part in the London Marathon. He hopes to raise £25,000 which he will donate to Macmillan Cancer Support, in memory of his father Victor who would have celebrated his 80th birthday this year.

The shift team leader at Sellafield said: "My family and friends aren't really surprised with this latest challenge although it will be the biggest I've ever done. I've been taking part in challenges for Macmillan since 2003.

"It'll be a difficult challenge because of the enormity of it all. I don't think it'll be more difficult because of my age. I'm 48 in June and I believe the older you get the wiser you become when taking on challenges of this magnitude.

"Time is irrelevant, it's a case of running 26.2 miles (I'm doing a minimum of 27 miles) a day and then putting your body into recovery mode. It doesn't really matter if it takes four hours or eight. The harder you go the more pressure you put on your body."


Gary McKee Mr Mckee said the highlight of long challenges was watching the donations and sponsorship coming in for his chosen charity.

He added: "I hate the recognition that a big challenge brings because I don't do it for recognition, I do it to tell people that they are not fighting cancer alone, that I'm fighting with them.

"I understand that recognition goes hand in hand with raising funds and I'm also aware that my Macmillan CV reads like it belongs to some superman but I'm not a superman, I'm an ordinary bloke trying to make a difference to people affected by cancer."

Mr McKee is well known in the community as he carried the Olympic torch on its way through Whitehaven in 2012, which was the year he was Macmillan’s Volunteer of the year.

In total he has raised £150,000 for the charity over the years.