Tom Harrison from Buckinghamshire has shared that he plans to walk the London Marathon backwards in support of Ukrainians.

It comes after he previously crawled the Marathon dressed as a gorilla, now by walking backwards he hopes to see that he's "looking over my shoulder for Ukraine”.

Harrison, who works in project management told the PA news agency that there are several reasons behind his idea to walk the London Marathon backwards. 

Sharing: "At school, we had a motto which was in Latin and it translated to: Look forward and look back,” he said.

“It meant look at what you’ve achieved, look at what you’ve done and where you’ve come from – don’t forget that – but also look forward to the future and what’s still to come and what you can still achieve.

“I’m going to keep that in mind for the walk because I’m going forward but also looking backwards.”

Man to run London Marathon backwards

It's not the first time the 46-year-old has taken on a unique challenge, in September 2022 he walked 263 miles in 15 days from Land’s End in Cornwall to Parliament Square in London and in 2017 he crawled the 26.2 mile marathon route in a gorilla outfit.

Adding that he thinks his “quirky” and “eye-catching” idea would help to publicise the cause, with funds being donated to Red Cross to support Ukrainians embroiled in the ongoing war with Russia.

“There was a mass missile strike in Ukraine just recently, which was launched by the Russians, and knocked out energy supplies across lots of cities and killed numerous people”, he said.

“This is something we don’t have to face here – yes, we have higher energy bills – but at least we can put the heating on for a bit when we need it, but in Ukraine a lot of people don’t have this option a lot of the time.

“And most Ukrainians will know someone who has been killed during the war and it’s really horrible what they are going through, so they still need to be supported and not forgotten about.

News Shopper:

“I am kind of looking over my shoulder for Ukraine.”

In terms of logistics, Mr Harrison will start the marathon at the back to avoid any potential crashes with fellow runners.

“I will be slower but at least if I start at the back I won’t be in anyone’s way”, he said.

“And navigation-wise, I’m just going to have to use the curb as my guide really."

Harrison also went on to share what he's most looking forward to, saying: "So many people turn up to watch and it creates such a good atmosphere, as well as seeing the inspiring landmarks like Buckingham Palace, and that will keep me going.

“I’m sure I’ll get some comments like ‘mate, you’re going the wrong way’, but it will be funny and at least they are interested, but I’ll probably have to put something on my back which explains what I am doing.”

You can donate to Mr Harrison’s fundraiser via the website.