Simon’s ruby Reading run

SIMON Brown is set to join elite club of runners at this weekend’s event.

He is one of six people who will have competed in each of the 40 Reading half marathons held since the first event in 1983.

To celebrate the occasion, Mr Brown and his fellow runners have been given free life time entry.

Reading half marathon was the long first distance race he ever took part in, aged 17.

“Someone at Key Markets in Tilehurst, where I worked at the time, was taking part,” Mr Brown said.

“I didn’t do any training and I hadn’t even run even five or 10 kilometres at the time.”

“It was a new event, so I wanted to join in.”

Once he got in to the habit of entering the Reading half marathon after the first few years, Mr Brown said that he became motivated by reaching milestone targets.

“It has become part of the calendar now,” he added.

“And I have kept all of the medals too.”

He lives in Thailand over t he winter — where he now regularly takes parts in long distance runs as part of his training regime — and returns in time for the half marathon.

Mr Brown hopes to finish in a time between two hours and 30 minutes and two hours and 45 minutes, despite carrying a knee injury.

He has never knowingly met any of the other five people who have taken part in all 40 races.

“But about 10 years ago, my mum randomly got talking to a woman while she was walking to the start with me,” he said.

“It turned out that her husband had taken part in every race up until that point.”

The other runners who have taken part in each race are Caroline White, Malcolm Booker, Jeff Kinghorn, Paul Studd and Kevin Taylor.

Spectators can look out for Mr Brown’s distinctive “1983

Simon 2022” label at this Sunday’s event.