Simon Buckden boasted in YEP interview: '˜I've become known as someone with integrity'

Buckden made contact with the YEP to peddle his lies during the spring of 2012 as he desperately sought to raise his public profile.

He contacted a reporter at our former offices on Wellington Street stating he had been diagnosed with rectal cancer in addition to suffering from PTSD.

In a follow-up interview Buckden insisted that he was determined to complete his goal of running 100 marathons in 100 weeks.

He boasted: “I have become known as someone with integrity.” 
Referring to his ‘diagnosis’, he said: “It is life-threatening and doctors say to have as normal a life as possible.

“But my normal life is not as normal as others.”

He added: “It is like dangling a carrot that is keeping me motivated.”

And he said he was committed to his marathon challenge and added: “It’s like if I said that’s it it has stopped I would feel I had let people down and myself down because I made a commitment.”

The YEP reporter asked Buckden for his permission to be able to contact the consultant treating his him to get more details about his condition.

However, Buckden refused, claiming a benefactor was paying for him to be treated 
privately and feared any publicity.

Buckden also discussed having PTSD during the interview.

He said: “With PTSD people don’t really understand it.”

He added: “With PTSD they’re not seeing anything. It has been a huge battle.”

Buckden also spoke of his determination to carry the Olympic torch and said “it’s a huge honour in your own city”.