The person who was undoubtedly the slowest walker in Saturday’s Parish Walk, has been hailed as the event’s true winner.

Edward Kelly, aged 39, of Onchan, retired at Marown Church, only four miles from the start, after taking eight-and-a-half hours to reach his destination.

Mr Kelly walked as part of the Hospice team and was accompanied by Niomi Phillips and Elaine Quine from Hospice who carried a donation bucket, which was eagerly filled by passers-by.

Mr Kelly took part in the 2002 Parish Walk as an under 21-year-old - and was the fourth of his age group to reach Rushen Church. However, in October 2002, just three days after his 21st birthday, Mr Kelly suffered a major brain stem stroke.

He was flown to Walton Neurological Centre in a quadriplegic state and spent nine months there, followed by two months in the Newlands Building of Noble’s Hospital.

He had to learn to walk and talk again, but always had a determination to succeed.

As he slowly adjusted to life after his stroke, he was determined to enter the Parish Walk again.

He reached Braddan Church in both 2005 and 2019, raising £28,000 for the Manx Stroke Foundation in the process.

He had hoped to reach Marown Church in 2019, but a fall the night before left him with a concussion.

While there wasn’t a Parish Walk in 2020 due to the pandemic, this year he entered again as part of the Hospice team, without announcing to his friends and without sponsorship forms.

support

Once he was on the main Douglas to Peel Road at Braddan Bridge however, he was noticed by many as he made slow progress dragging his left leg through with each step that he took.

Cars beeped in support and people got out and put money into the bucket.

His efforts were announced on Facebook, and soon there were constant updates as people pondered who he was, where he had reached, and which charity he was raising money for.

People came out of their houses to donate and others drove to find him and do likewise.

Many said it brought tears to their eyes as they watched him, and others referred to his determination and called him a hero.

A Just Giving site was set up on social media and donations from £5 to £500 flowed in with messages of praise. At the time of writing, the total raised had reached £2,825.

After a very tiring eight-and-a-half hours, by which time the race leaders would be between Jurby and Bride, Edward reached his goal of Marown Church and the bucket carried by the Hospice staff was found to contain £1,500.

Niomi Phillips, who accompanied Mr Kelly on the walk, said: ’It was an absolutely fantastic day, and the response from the general public was overwhelming really.’

Mr Kelly said: ’I ready wanted to do this under the radar just to prove to myself that I could make it to Marown [after] having to curtail things in 2019 because of my fall.

’Somebody put it on Facebook after they saw me on the road and support with horn blowing and donations just grew from there.’

He added: ’In doing it I hope to inspire other people to be more active.

’Also I hope to prove that you can become a stronger person by overcoming a seemingly hopeless situation.’