FORMER Para Barrie Riley didn’t dare slacken his pace for a moment when he strode out for a charity mile on the treadmill.
Because his every move was under scrutiny by his sternest critics — his old comrades from the Parachute Regiment. Barrie, 68, donned the helmet and smock from his service with the Paras 50 years ago, slung a 24-pound Bren Gun over his shoulder and did his bit for comrades from more recent conflicts. He was among dozens of runners stepping on to running machines in the foyer of the Torbay Leisure Centre at Paignton during a 14-hour non-stop run-in to raise funds for the Help For Heroes charity. The event was the brainchild of centre gym manager Jay Williams, himself a former Army PT instructor. He said: “People are being really generous. It is going very well. “I wanted to do this because I felt that the lads don’t get enough recognition for what they are doing.”
Mr Riley, from Brixham, is a veteran of 73 marathons — all but three of them in times under three hours — and a member of the Sparkhill Harriers running club in Birmingham.