By Kit Danks

A Dorchester-born marathon competitor was among celebrity presenters of the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards.

Gus McKechnie has taken part in many charity fundraising events, including 11 marathons, rowing around the Isle of Wight and cycling 105,000 miles on a static bike – all of this while ‘defying’ his cerebral palsy.

The Duke of Edinburgh Awards team had read about Gus’ achievements on the Ordnance Survey website, for whom he works, and some of the challenges he has completed, including the Mont Blanc Trek.

Gus joined a host of celebrities at the ceremony including Alexandra Burke, Alan Titchmarsh and David Mitchell to present 50 Gold Awards at the latest round of presentations in Buckingham Palace gardens.

Gus said: “It was a nerve-wracking but memorable experience, the whole day was something I will never forget.”

Gus delivered a speech to 50 young people receiving awards and their parents, before accepting the certificates from the Countess of Wessex and presenting them to the young achievers.

The fundraiser had administered Duke of Edinburgh awards while working as a student volunteer co-ordinator for Southampton Solent University, during which time he helped over 11,000 young people compete in indoor rowing.

After the exciting event at Buckingham Palace, Gus is now preparing for the Great North Run in September, where he will compete in the elite wheelchair race.

He said: “The organisers have been brilliant allowing me to take part, although when Mo Farah catches up with me I was told I will have to pull over.”

This isn’t the first time he has taken on a challenging wheelchair race – in 2017 he became the first person to take on the ABP Southampton Half Marathon in a wheelchair.

Also on his list of fundraising challenges he hopes to complete this year is a trek through Nepal and 30 half marathons on a Concept 2 rowing machine, all in aid of local charity Weldmar Hospicecare Trust.

The Dorset-based charity hospice supports patients with terminal illnesses and their families, and offers palliative care in patients homes and at their specialist inpatient unit in Dorchester.

To learn more about Gus’s fundraising efforts, visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/gusrolls