A Fordingbridge 73-year-old has impressed after holding a plank for eight minutes and 37 seconds.

Gus Yee won the Downton Leisure Centre April Plank Challenge, holding the position for an "extraordinary" amount of time.

He also took part in the London Marathon last year, at the age of 72, and spent a recent birthday abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth.

"There's a bit of madness in me," the 73-year-old explained.

A plank is a position similar to a push-up, where the person holds their body weight parallel to the floor, leaning on their elbows and tips of their toes.

Mr Yee said he didn't exactly prepare for the challenge but just went into the leisure centre as normal on April 29.

He enquired as to the longest time set in the challenge so far, and when one of the instructors told him it was seven minutes, he replied: "Is that all?"

"The instructor asked if I could do better, and I thought someone has set me a challenge, so then I did it right then," he said.

He explains that he is "quite fit" and has developed his "core strength and fitness", which are essential to holding a plank, through circuit training in the gym.

While the singer Cher was praised for holding the position for five minutes at the age of 71, Gus describes his time of eight-and-a-half minutes as "quite mediocre".

"I was quite staggered that it was such an achievement," he said.

Mr Yee is also a semi-retired accountant, who used to work for a Downton firm but now independently handles some clients "to keep the brains in gear".

He spends his retirement doing "a bit of running" as part of a Downton running group, playing badminton in the gym, as well as attending a spinning class.

For his achievement, he was able to hold the Downton Leisure Centre challenge trophy for about 20 seconds while having his picture taken.

Mr Yee has lived in Fordingbridge since 1999 and has been attending the Downton Leisure Centre for the last 12 years.

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