Portland’s Chris Perham was given the unique opportunity to run five miles around the Olympic Park and into the Olympic Stadium, all thanks to the Dorset Echo.

He was one of five lucky winners to be chosen from the Dorset Echo after 43,000 people applied for the 5,000 places, which was run mainly by the National Lottery.

The race was started off by Princess Beatrice and Dianne Thompson from the National Lottery, and saw Perham run alongside Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as celebrity participants.

The islander was able to take in landmarks such as the Velodrome and the Aquatic Centre before he ran around the Olympic track to cross the finishing line in the iconic stadium in a time of 29mins 6secs.

That put Perham 30th in the under 34 years category, and 46th overall.

The teenager said: “Thanks to the Dorset Echo I got to experience a once-in-a-lifetime race.

“I came away with souvenirs, a medal, T-shirt, certificate, a lot of photos and great memories.”

The event was hosted by TV presenter Holly Willoughby and Olympic silver medallist Iwan Thomas, and included entertainment from dance troupe Flawless and electronic string quartet Escala among others.

Meanwhile, Perham has once again secured the backing of Tri UK.

The Portland teenager travelled to Yeovil to collect his race kit from the country’s largest triathlon retailer.

This will be Perham’s second year on the team and while in Somerset he spent the day meeting his fellow team-mates.

They then enjoyed a 20-mile ride in fine weather around the Yeovil area.

Perham said: “The 2012 race kit is very traditional Great Britain colours.”

The islander is busy training for upcoming triathlons and was fortunate enough to attend some South West talent training weekends, where he was able to gain advice from some of the top coaches in Britain.