HE may have been king of the Bolton parkrun last year but Gary Furness admits he faces a much bigger challenge in this year's Ironman UK event.

The 28-year-old from Harwood won the parkrun points competition for male competitors in 2015 and has run the 5k course around Leverhulme Park more than 120 times, finishing in good times on most of those Saturday mornings.

Despite not being a member of an athletics club, Gary got the running bug and after a couple of marathons, he decided to take on the challenge of triathlon three years ago with his first outing in Darwen.

After another 15 events, he decided to finally take the plunge and go for the ultimate test of Ironman UK in his home town and is now winding down his training in readiness for Sunday's big day.

Avid Wanderers fan Gary admits it will be a tough test but as someone whose father, Stuart, was a fell runner, who had a best marathon time of 2hrs 36mins, he was probably always destined to compete in his own back yard one day.

He told The Bolton News: "I would probably have never got into running if it had not been for dad.

"I love it for general fitness and have been doing parkrun for a long time.

"Then, about three years ago, I did my first triathlon and it has gone on from there.

"It is my first Ironman but I always knew I would have a go one day as it is in my home town – I have always fancied it.

"It was just about when the time would be right and my little boy, Freddie, is 18 months old now so I thought it would be now or never really, especially when there are often rumours of it moving from Bolton."

Once entered, Gary, who is originally from Belmont, downloaded a training programme from the official Ironman UK website and has stuck to it religiously.

It has meant training early mornings and late nights around his job working for Eon energy and his home life with Freddie and girlfriend Lauren – but he hopes it will all be worth it.

He added: "If you want to do Ironman, you have to be dedicated and disciplined and that's what I have done.

"It is tough getting up in the cold and dark at 5am in January to get on the bike but you know it has to be done.

"I have been able to fit training around work and then when Freddie goes to bed, I often go out again.

"It has meant a lot of help from Lauren and without her support, I doubt I would have been able to do it.

"Now it is here and the training is winding down.

"I have a time in mind but I am not saying as I don't want to jinx it."

"I know it will be hard and the marathon at the end is going to be really tough but I am determined to get across that line in front of the family."