Marathon man Steve on track for an amazing feat (From Tewkesbury Admag)

Marathon man Steve on track for an amazing feat

12:00pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Cotswolds By Freya Leng

A MORETON man is well on track to achieving an amazing life-long dream – to run 500 marathons each in a time of under threeand- a-half hours.

Steve Edwards, aged 49, has vowed to complete his world record-breaking feat by his 50th birthday in November.

Since starting his running career in 1981, when he ran the Coventry Marathon aged 18, Steve has run 546 official marathon races of which 471 have been completed in under three-and-ahalf hours.

His marathon running has taken him to 27 countries including the USA and New Zealand and he has run the London marathon 16 times.

The father of one, who works for Campden BRI in IT technical support and is a member of the Bourton Roadrunners Club, said: “When I ran my first marathon in 1981, like many people I said never again.

“But then I discovered what has turned out to be a really fantastic sport. I’ve always had it in my mind.

I’ve wanted to do something quite spectacular. It’s a lifelong challenge to run all 500 marathons.

“As well as the personal achievement for me it’s been a journey for myself and my wife. We have learnt a lot about different cultures and made lots of new friends.”

Record breaking is in Steve’s nature – at the age of 28 he broke a world record for running 87 marathons in a year.

Then in May 2008 he broke the world record for running the Brathay Ten Marathons in Ten Days Challenge – ten consecutive marathons around Lake Windermere.

His journey is being documented in a series of blogs as part of the BT storytellers campaign to record the story of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

He is one of 100 bloggers, social networkers, artists, writers, poets, graphic designers, film-makers, photographers and musicians chosen from across the country.

“I’ve raised about £25,000 for different charities. It’s a great way of putting something back,” added Steve.

“I’m hoping to achieve my 500th marathon in August – at the end of the Olympics and the start of the Paralympic Games.”

For more information, visit bt.com/ storytellers.