A first-time marathon runner from Bermuda successfully proposed to his girlfriend in front of 2 million spectators during the New York Marathon last Sunday.

Tim Calveley told that he trained for months to run the marathon in order to wear a T-shirt that said ?Kelly, will you marry me?? in front of 35,000 other runners.

?A lot of people were commenting on my T-shirt,? Mr. Calveley said. ?One guy said he would marry me if I carried him the rest of the way.?

?I had the ring in my pocket the whole time I was running. I was checking to see if it was still there every two minutes,? he said.

But even after running 17 miles with the ring in his pocket, he still had to run another 9.2 miles to the finish line of the 26.2 mile marathon.

He said that he had been thinking about how to ask his girlfriend, Kelly Southern, to marry him for a few months but finally decided upon New York on November 9.

?I didn?t want to do it like everyone else did... I wanted to do something different,? he said.

But Mr. Calveley was even able to keep his mission a secret from his whole family ? apart from his sister Fina Yeld, who also ran the marathon.

?My sister was running as well. So my whole family were there. We went out the day before to see where Kelly was going to stand and I was really insistent on where she would stand in the crowd. It was outside an Irish pub on First Avenue by 65th Street.

?First Avenue was where the biggest crowds were. There were a lot of runners from Bermuda running the marathon. That was the Bermuda supporters section,? he said.

But even after telling them goodbye in the morning, he had to be careful not to let anyone see the ?will you marry me? shirt.

?I went out with a different shirt on in the morning, then I changed it before the start of the race,? he said.

With everything in place for the perfect proposal, all he had to do was run the 17 miles between him and his love.

But he said almost was not able to make the proposal the way he wanted to.

?I got to mile 17. I moved the ring and put it on my little finger. Luckily she was there. I shouted out as I ran towards her. I saw her face and she looked so confused because I was wearing a different T-shirt. The crowd went nuts.

?The funny thing was that when I tried to get down on one knee my leg got cramped when I got halfway down!

No matter what, I could not get down on one knee, so I gave her the ring.?

Mr. Calveley said the proposal was caught on tape by his brother-in-law who had a video recorder.

?It all worked out very well,? he said, but added: ?My marathon career is finished. The only reason I did the marathon was to propose.?

He also that that it was fortunate that he was able to run at all after sustaining an injury a few weeks prior to the race.

Ms Southern said she was ?still stunned? even though the couple plan will be married on the Island next September.

?I was speechless,? Ms. Southern said. ?I had no clue he was going to propose during the marathon. He left the hotel with a different shirt on.

?On First Avenue I was looking for his other shirt. When I saw him I was stunned. But then he asked if I would marry him and I said ?of course I will?,? she said.