For pensioner Barry Bell his weekly 5k Parkrun at Shorne Wood Country Park is more a chance to stretch his legs.

For the spritely 69 year-old has clocked up nine marathons and is now in training to complete his 24th North Downs Run, a 30k route across the north Kent countryside.

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Barry, a former shipping logistics manager, took up running more than 25 years ago to keep fit.

It was about this time the Istead and Ifield Harriers Club was started and he immediately joined.

He said: “I used to run by myself but thought it would be more sociable to join a group.”

Barry, of Medbury Road, Chalk, was at last Saturday’s meeting to promote the North Downs Run which is on Sunday, June 25, starting at Cascades Leisure Centre in Thong Lane.

Barry, who is married to Joyce, 65, also a runner, said: “I believe in having a goal and stepping it up. I would like to think I could make my 10th marathon and my 25th Downs run.”

VIDEO: Runners are being urged to sign up for the North Downs Run

Barry has run the London marathon four times, Berlin twice and Edinburgh once.

He joked: “You could say I have seen the country by running marathons. In my younger days I used to do a lot of cycling, but I broke my hip in December 2015.”

Remarkably, six months after the break he was fit enough to take part in competitions again.

To find out more about the North Downs Run, click here.