HE MAY not be a former boxing champ or five-times Olympic gold rowing medallist but Okehampton civil engineer Dave Walsh came in streets ahead of Frank Bruno and Steve Redgrave when he completed his first London Marathon in under four hours.
Dave's official time was four hours and one minute but the clock started ticking seven minutes before he reached the start line.
'My goal was to finish in under four hours and unofficially I did, so I was very pleased,' he said. 'Out the 32,000 finishers I came 9,279 so to be in the top third was a good result.'
Dave, 32, passed Frank Bruno at London Docklands: 'You could not miss him because everyone was screaming his name,' said the runner, who also managed to come in one hour ahead of Steve Redgrave.
A double celebration is going on back at his home in Okehampton after reaching his fundraising target of £1,000 which will split between the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust and the Devon Air Ambulance.
'I have achieved everything I set out to do so it's brilliant really,' he added.
Like all participants in the London Marathon, Dave said the crowd, which included his wife, two-year-old son Thomas and mum and dad, kept him going through the last part of the race.
'The last seven miles were hell,' he said. 'I knew if I slowed down and started walking I would not be able to run again.
'To keep going for that long when all your senses are telling you to stop and walk is very difficult.'
With his university days well behind him and his fitness level not what it once was, Dave said a 26-mile London Marathon is perhaps not the best way to prove you have still got what it takes!
'It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done — I think I will try a half marathon next,' he said.