Chris Henderson, the man who ran the Rottnest Marathon backwards last Sunday, may have been the butt of jokes while training, but the 32-year-old managed to take enough backwards steps to come out on top of a four-year old bet.



It started out as a simple story when Mr Henderson was having a few drinks with a friend, sparking a debate on what the human body was capable of, leading to a $4000 bet he could run a marathon backwards.



To say the odds were against him took on a literal meaning as Sportsbet opened up four markets on the challenge, including a 1001 to one odds for the reverse-runner to win the marathon.



The backwards man didn't win, but finished the race in five hours and five minutes, raising just over $22,000 for charity Beyond Blue.

"I was looking good for under five hours at one stage but the wheels fell off after 35 kilometres," he said.

Mr Henderson, beating the time target set by Sportsbet by finishing in under six and a half hours,resulting in the company handing over a $10,000 donation.



The betting agency was happy to fork over the cash.

"Beyond Blue is a fantastic charity and Chris is a ripper bloke, fair play to him for having a go and we're happy he won our bet," said spokesman Will Byrne.