Besses man Barry O’Brien literally went the “extra mile” for The Christie — every single day throughout 2013.

Thanks to a remarkable regime of running at least a mile a day last year, the 43-year-old is poised to give the cancer centre more than £2,000 raised through sponsorship.

So disciplined was the father-of-three that he even continued to complete at least a mile a day while on holiday in Portugal and Ireland.

Now, after his “exhaustive” fundraising quest, Barry, of Dartmouth Road, is taking a well-earned rest.

Barry, who is also captain of Pike Fold Golf Club in Unsworth, having taken over from his brother Mike, said: “I haven’t run one step since January 1.”

Apart from his daily running routine, primarily carried out in the evenings, Barry also completed a park run event in Heaton Park and the Great North Run.

Barry, who operates his own facilities management comp-any, said: “I ran a minimum of one mile a day in 2013. Throughout, I was logged on to Twitter and Facebook via Runkeeper. I wanted to do something for charity and I chose The Christie because family and friends have been treated there. It’s a fabulous institution, not only for cancer sufferers and their families, but for Manchester.

“I’d done 10k runs in the past but I wanted to do something different and difficult and decided to run a minimum of a mile a day in 2013.

“It wasn’t physically difficult but mentally difficult as it could get quite boring, and it did. I was glad that I had running partners as well.

“I just had to go out there and do it.”

His year-long effort culminated on New Year’s Eve when he ran from Pike Fold to the Bee Hive Inn in Bury New Road, Whitefield, supported by family and golf club members.

His running shoes are not being put away for good, as he plans to complete the Great North Run again this year.