Pensioner named oldest Brit to complete 100 marathons despite warning not to run
A Brit has become the oldest man to complete a staggering 100 marathons - after doctors urged him not to run.
Martin Ward, 64, started running in his mid-fifties in a bid to get fit after ballooning to 15st.
After falling in love with it, he began taking on the 26 mile challenges in 2015 and has gone on to average 12-and-a-half marathons a year, now completing his hundredth.
Registered as disabled in his 30s and having previously suffered a collapsed lung and slipped disc, the dad-of-two would be forgiven for taking it easy.
Doctors even warned Mr Ward for 55 years to "keep fit but never run - certainly not a marathon".
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He also admits fitness in general has never been his bag, regularly flunking PE lessons when he was in school.
Sprightly Martin only took up running a few years ago to get fit (Joseph Walshe / SWNS)But decades later, retired Martin has now defied the odds and done something only 0.0007% of the population has done - becoming the oldest person in the UK and Ireland to join the elite 100 Marathon Club, crossing the challenge finish line with his most recent in Milton Keynes earlier this month.
Martin's remarkable feat includes nine 33-mile ultra-marathons - any course longer than the regular 26.2 miles - two of which he won three days apart against super-fit runners half his age.
In the space of just a few years, the retiree has pounded 2,663 miles of terrain in his running shoes - around the same distance from London to Morocco.
He said he was inspired to take up running and went on to lose four stone after going to watch his son Richard, 39, complete a marathon in Wales.
He saw his son compete in a race in Wales and realised he wanted to take it up himself (Joseph Walshe / SWNS)Mr Ward, from Allestree, Derby, said he never thought he'd be sporty, suffering two collapsed lungs in his 20s - one of which was while running for a bus - as well as back problems and a cancer scare.
He said: "I watched my son running the Conwy half marathon along the beautiful Welsh coastlines and I turned to my wife Irena and said I'd love to do that.
"She just laughed at me to start with but I thought it might be a good way to start losing the pounds.
"I began by just jogging around the block, to start with just between lampposts, then eventually on to my allotment.
"I built up to park runs and then did a 3k and then I started doing 10ks. I started to really believe I could run then.
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Martin's medals (Joseph Walshe / SWNS)"It was like a revelation, as you can imagine. For 55 years I'd been told not to run and that I can't run. Then I find out I can.
"It was only at that point when I did the Great Manchester Run around 2015/16 that I actually bought my first pair or running shoes."
Having lost four stone since taking up running, Mr Ward now weighs a svelte 11 stone and feels fitter than ever.
During his many running feats, he's run alongside Mo Farah seven times and Haile Gebrselassie once.
His favourite marathons so far have been the "beautiful run" in Edinburgh - in which he racked up his best time of 4 hours and 18 minutes - and the London Marathon.
He finished his 100th marathon in Milton Keynes earlier this month (Courtesy Martin Ward / SWNS)
He's averaged at 12 and a half marathons a year (Courtesy Martin Ward / SWNS)He added: "One of the toughest I ran was on sheet ice in Milton Keynes when it was -5 degrees. The sweat was frozen to my face.
"I also finished 92nd out of more than 700 in the Endure24 endurance race which is just full of young fit lads trying to be the best runners in the world.
"Then I won Enigma Deja Vu marathon and the World Cup Ultra Marathon just days apart from each other. It just proves age is no barrier."
He added: "I'm absolutely elated. It's an amazing achievement. There's only 500 people in the UK and Ireland out of 72 million people who have done it."
Martin with his 100th marathon medal (Joseph Walshe / SWNS)Martin, who used to be head of customer services for a regional development agency and is also an avid poet and composer, added: "It was just down to sheer bloody-mindedness and absolute determination that I did it.
"I get through the barrier by composing music in my head. It's something to focus on when I run.
"What I'm proud of most of all is flying the flag for older people. People say that at a certain age you can no longer compete in sport or no longer win a race.
"Well, I've smashed that glass ceiling. You're told you're too old to do this and that you can't. You can."
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