Meet the marathon man who’s in it for the long run
JUST six people have run every London Marathon since the race began in 1981, known as the “ever presents”.
And one of them, Jeff Aston, is from Cardiff – and at 76 years old he recently ran this year’s course in eight hours, six minutes.
“Just the sense of achievement of doing it again. It is a very long way, it does not get easier as the years go on. If it was easy everyone would do it,” said Jeff.
He found out about the first marathon from an advert in runners’ magazine Jogging, sent off the form and won the ballot for his place.
Since 1995, those that have finished every London Marathon are automatically guaranteed a place for the next year – provided they finish the course.
“We are like brothers in arms, we are more and more of a unique club.
You can’t join it, only leave it,” Jeff said about his fellow ‘ever presents’ – Chris Finill, Michael Peace, Bill O’Connor, David Walker, and Malcolm Speake.
They meet up at the start of every race and at other times throughout the year.
In July they are running the Bushy Park parkrun – the first ever parkrun – along with some retired “ever presents”.
There were 6,255 finishers in the first London Marathon, including 42 who went on to run the first 15 marathons and became the “ever presents”.
Jeff said: “At the time it was the biggest race in the UK, it was a large number to be running in the same race.
“I was amazed with the number of people and the amount of support from spectators.
“It was quite wet!”
The athlete started running just over a year before the first London Marathon, at the end of 1979, when the River Taff flooded the squash courts.
“I thought ‘what else I can do to keep fit?.’ The courts would take many months to be repaired, so I started running around the recreation ground,” said Jeff.
He is also part of Les Croupiers running club, based in Llandaff.
His personal best came in 1983 with an impressive time of 2 hours 29 minutes, his “best year” overall for running and beating the time of 2 hours and 30 minutes, seen as one of the milestone targets for runners.
Although his times are different now, he’s still determined.
Jeff: “It is something that has to be done. I know it is going to be difficult.
“I want to maintain my forward movement as long as I can, I have a long-standing back problem that stops me going very quickly. I know that all I have got to do is finish it.”
Even in 2020’s Covid-hit year, he ran a virtual marathon around Whitchurch.
With this year’s marathon – which was held 10 days ago – over what does the future hold for Jeff?
“If you asked ‘are you going to carry on?’ Yes. I have no intentions of stopping, I will do it and enjoy it. Next year is a significant year because it is the 45th. Hopefully they will do something to recognise everyone who has run every race.”