DAVE Atherton got all the way to 56 years old doing barely any exercise.

But three years later he is preparing to take on one of the ultimate sporting challenges.

The Edgworth financial consultant will line up alongside hundreds of other competitors at Pennington Flash on Sunday in a bid to complete IronmanUK.

Not in his wildest dreams could he ever have seen himself swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles and running 26.2 miles one after the other a couple of years ago.

But that is exactly what he has got himself in good enough shape to do when Bolton once again stages the annual event this weekend.

The turning point in his life came when he began doing another form of exercise — walking.

"I joined Bolton Ramblers Club and went out with them for about two years," he said.

"That's where I met a mate of mine, John Hall, and it was from John that I got the idea to start running.

"We went out and did a bit of running in 2014 and he got me to do the Bolton Hill Marathon in 2015.

"I started training for that in January 2015 and did it in the June.

"I thought that would be my Everest, then last year I went watching Ironman.

"I had skin cancer and two days after watching Ironman I was having the cancer taken away.

"They took the tumour out, but I had a bad reaction to the operation and I couldn't do anything for eight weeks.

"I love doing Bolton parkrun on Saturday mornings and I did it with a catheter on — I don't think anyone has ever done parkrun with a catheter on before.

"But when I finished, the bag was full of blood and I went straight to Blackburn A&E.

"I had to set myself a target after that, just to give myself something to aim for.

"Ironman was something I never thought for one minute I could dare to attempt, but I decided to give it a go."

Months of training has got him to such a level of fitness that Dave is confident he will be able to complete the challenge on Sunday.

"I won't be winning it," he joked, "but I feel that determined to do it that I think the only thing that can stop me is a major mechanical problem with the bike.

"That's everyone's fear with Ironman. I have trained hard and I hope I will find a way to complete it and get under the magic time of 17 hours.

"When I started training I was 12st 7lbs, now I'm 11st. There's nothing on me now and it takes a lot of willpower and mental strength to do the training.

"My missus, Lorraine, has given me fantastic support for the last 12 months and as long as she and my family are there when I cross the finish line I don't care about the time, it will be a massive achievement and a massive box ticked."

While Sunday will be the pinnacle of his sporting life so far, the grandfather wearing number 2049admits he will be glad to see the back of Ironman.

"I just want to get back to normal and get back into the Bolton parkrun community," he said.

"That's where I feel comfortable. It's more friendly and has more of a community feeling than anything else I do.

"What I've been doing — nine months of training, 15 hours a week on average — has been intensive and I'm looking forward to just doing parkrun regularly again because I've not been able to do it if it hasn't fit in with my training."