80-year-old marathoner Sydney Wheeler says he limits his mileage to 1000 miles annually due to his age

80-year old Sydney Wheeler has been a member of the Chepstow Harriers Running Club (Wales) for 30 years and will be running his 210th marathon on Sunday at Newport's first marathon. He is the oldest entered.  Chepstow said: “I was inspired to start running marathons after the first London marathon in 1981. “I watched the winners arm in arm crossing the finish line and the sportsmanship really inspired me. I started running from then.” Sydney says as he trains every other day, but limits to running 1000 miles a year as he needs more time to recover due to his age. “I am better at running longer distances than I am shorter distances. So that’s why I started doing marathons,” he said. The pensioner says he may be in last position on Sunday, but he doesn’t mind and says he is lucky he doesn’t suffer any injuries.  “My only worry is I will hold everyone up as they are all volunteers and they are all waiting for me.”

posted Friday April 27th