FOR most men approaching their 80th birthday a nice meal out or a glass of champagne at home might suffice by way of celebration – but not Bruce Tulloh WRITES KEVIN FAHEY.

The former international athlete, coach and author, from Marlborough, has opted to mark this notable landmark by tackling an 80 miles walk from his home to London, along the Kennet valley, the Kennet and Avon canal and the Thames path.

Through his long and illustrious career Tulloh has never been shy of a physical challenge, whether it was winning the European Championships 5000m title in 1962 or just seven years later breaking the record for running from Los Angeles to New York, covering 2,900 miles in 65 days.

But his latest challenge, which is due to start on October 12 and finish at Westminster on October 18, is also a means of publicising his new book on Healthy Old Age, called How to Avoid Dying (for as long as possible).

“The object of the walk is to highlight the need for the elderly to look after their own health and fitness,” said Tulloh.

“You see so many books written for women bringing up babies or on dieting but very little geared towards elderly people wanting a better lifestyle.

“We are living longer, but suffering more from ill-health; we can go a long way towards improving the situation by following a sensible diet and exercise regime.

“And this is not aimed at just runners or sports people. This is for ordinary people, who are perhaps approaching 50 or so and want to get fitter and healthier to enjoy their life more.”

As a trained biologist and teacher for thirty years, plus coach to more than 20 international athletes and still an active runner, Tulloh knows what he is talking about which makes it strange that no publisher has offered to bring out the new book.

Needless to say Tulloh wasn’t going to let a setback like that stop him.

“The book has not yet found a publisher, but I feel there is a need for it so I am going ahead and publishing it myself so it will be available as an eBook from www.TullohBooks.com,” he added.