Geoff clocks up the miles at 84
AN awe inspiring pensioner from Hinckley running club is showing age is no barrier with his marathon efforts.
Geoff Oliver, 84, competed in the Self-Transcendence 24-hour Track in London, covering just over 80 miles and running for 20 hours and 53 minutes.
He was the oldest to compete and was far and away the winner in the over-60 category, by almost 25 miles.
He came in 34th place out of 45, beating runners more than half his age, including a 33-year-old Indian and a 29-year-old Russian, in the international race at Tooting Bec track.
Geoff, who is chairman of Hinckley running club, said: “I was pleased I did as well as I did.
“It was a good international field with a quarter of the runners from overseas.
“I was pleased to beat the next person in the over60 category by some 25 miles.”
Geoff has competed in the race many times and has set numerous world records for his age group.
One of his first world records came in July 1978, when he set new benchmarks for men over 40 in the Snowdon up and down race.
He recorded a distance of 10 miles, achieving 52mins 22secs to the summit and 1hr 19min 09secs to the finish.
Geoff said that he hopes his accolades will help raise awareness of the sport.
He said: “Some sports get all the publicity.
“We don’t get that much recognition though a lot of people are interested in running.”