A great-grandfather from Macclesfield who was due to take on the now-cancelled London marathon hasn't let that stop him from running the 26 miles while isolating at home.

Harry Newton, (82), who lives in the Broken Cross area of Macclesfield, completed the effort on Sunday (26th April) by circling his house 461 times and has so far raised over £5,000 (gift aid included) for NHS Charities Together.

Harry told Nub News how he came up with the unique solution: "It was about two weeks ago and I was just about to go out on a run and there was a group of people talking. They all had a little bit of a spiel and said, 'stay at home'.

"Well I thought, here's me going out for a run and they're telling me to stay at home. I decided to do the run around the garden that and I did 6.5 miles. It's only 100 yards around the garden, so it's a lot of laps."

The Macclesfield Harriers member is no stranger to marathons, having completed 20, but none were quite like this.

Harry completed his home marathon in 5 hours and 22 minutes, an impressive time for any runner, let alone an octogenarian.

He said: "You can train for almost any race, but for me a marathon is always the toughest. My age has slowed me down over the years, but I was happy with that time."

Neighbours of Harry on Meg Lane cheered him on from over the fence, hoping to emulate the crowds he is used to seeing as he runs in the capital.

One would think Harry had been a runner his entire life, but the former post-sub master and grocer took up the sport relatively late, aged 57.

"The first run I did was the London Marathon, which was a bit of a daft thing to do. The first one was a bit of a disaster, but I got around and learnt from it; learnt how to train better and joined up with the Harriers," Harry said.

Due to their age, Harry and his wife Phyllis, have been 'shielding' at home and unable to physically their family, made up of three children, nine grandchildren, five great-grandchildren with another on the way.

He said the home marathon has been a good focus with a run every other day to train, but added they are coping with the lockdown "quite well" and are able to keep in touch with family.

Harry said the efforts of 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore- who raised over £25m for the NHS by lapping his garden 100 times- had inspired him to take on the challenge.

He said: "He's amazing, isn't he? I'd need a bit of help from BBC Breakfast if I wanted to raise that much."

Harry said he was thankful to his family, friends, colleagues and fellow Harriers members for their support and donations so far.

You can donate to Harry Newton's fundraising effort for NHS Charities Together by clicking here.