Local Brighton legend Matt B might not give marathon queen Paula Radcliffe a run for her money, but he can claim a world first. Faced with having to increase on his disappointing sponsorship of a rather sad tenner for a Brighton charity, Matt hit onto something completely different. He decided to race the London marathon with an ironing board strapped to his back.

"My friends creased up when I told them," says Matt. "I picked the board up from a clearance in John Lewis, and on race day I pressed a mate into service to strap it to my back with gaffer tape. From the start, it was full steam ahead."

With Matt pressing ahead with his cumbersome contraption, and gliding through the crowds, he says he needed to draw on a reservoir of inner strength to clock up an impressive six hours and 14 minutes, beating several hire-shop gorillas, 14 cowboys, and a runner on stilts…

"I was going flat out," he says.

Back to the Legends