Olympic hero David Hemery to take on the London Marathon at 70

The 70 year-old, who lives in Fyfield, near Marlborough, is taking on the 26.2 mile challenge in aid of his own charity, 21 Century Legacy, which aims to aims to inspire, engage and empower youngsters to reach their full potential.

Dr Hemery CBE, Vice Chairman of the British Olympic Association, who also won gold at two Commonwealth Games, silver at the European Championships in 1969, bronze at the 1972 Summer Olympics and was part of the silver medal winning British 4×400 m relay team in the same year, said that long distance running is out of his comfort zone.

He said: “David Bedford, the director of the London Marathon, asked me if I’d ever thought about doing it and as a sprint hurdler I said ‘why would I do that’ and he said because I could raise up to a quarter of a million for my charity.

“When I told my wife she said it would be the training that would kill me.

“I did a marathon 39 years ago without doing any training and I swore I’d never do one again unless I put the training in.”

Dr Hemery, who is also known for winning the first British Superstars TV show, started training six months ago, and is hoping to complete the route in five and a half hours.

He said: “I get a mixed response from people; some think I’m crazy and others think it’s really inspiring that a sprinter would take on a marathon.

“A lot of people give up on themselves at quite young age. I’m going to do it as interval training, running for 30 to 48 seconds and then walking for a minute.

“I’ve been having quite a bit of trouble with my calves stiffening up.

“I’ve been running on the Marlborough Downs which I really enjoy because there is a lot of lovely soft ground but there isn’t much grass on the route around London so I tried to do a half marathon on the road but it was too soon and I started getting pains in my calves so I’ve been doing a lot of long distance walking instead.”

To sponsor Dr Hemery visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DavidHemery