FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Young-at-heart John Starbrook the oldest runner
in the 2018 London Marathon
03/04/2018
John Starbrook - the oldest runner in this year's Virgin Money London
Marathon - turned 87 last September…but he would rather not admit that.
The fit-as-a-fiddle grandad doesn't want to be seen as one of the 'old
boys' by his fellow runners so often knocks at least a decade off his age.
"I run as much I can and if I can't I go to the gym," said Starbrook, who
lives in Staines-upon-Thames. "I go on the treadmill, do some weights or go
in the swimming pool.
"I often bump into other elderly runners or swimmers when I go to the pool
and I ask them their age and they are usually in their seventies. I think
to myself 'I can't say I'm as old as that' so I say I'm 76. I don't like
being 10 years older than everyone else!"
Starbrook, who is running the London Marathon to raise money for Age UK,
has run 32 London Marathons with his first coming in 1983 and his last two
years ago.
When he ran in 2016 aged 85, Starbrook was the eldest man but this time
round he is the oldest person in the entire field.
And though he might not like shouting about his age, he is still proud to
be the oldest runner.
"I am chuffed," he said. "As long as I'm not the slowest runner I'm happy
to be the oldest."
Starbrook didn't run last year after he had a minor health scare. He went
into central London to watch the race himself and to cheer on some
team-mates from Runnymede Runners but discovered he is not a good
spectator.
"That was really hard, watching all my friends run and me not being able
to," he said. "I'm not a good watcher. But that experience made me even
more determined to run again and I was training the next day."
His training involves joining his running club friends when he can 'but
they are all much younger and faster than me - they all call me grandad'.
When he can't join his clubmates he goes out on his own, either for a run,
to the gym or to the pool where he plays water polo on Sundays, much to the
amusement of his wife of 57 years, Judy.
"She says I'm on my own cloud," laughs Starbrook. "I pick my time to go out
and exercise and then I'm just gone!"
Judy, 80, will be watching the marathon on BBC TV this year and keeping
tabs on her husband via the tracking service. But she's also insisted her
husband has some company for the 26.2 miles.
"I've got a young lad, Bobby, who will be running with me because my wife
panicked a bit last time," he said. "So he'll be there running alongside me
the whole way.
"I've also got my water polo team coming up to watch me. They did the same
last time I ran in 2016 and sat in a pub along the course, drinking pints
and tracking me. As soon as I was near they came out and then ran as far as
they could alongside me on the other side of the barriers until they said I
was going too fast and had to stop!"
Starbrook is aiming to finish inside six-and-a-half hours and says he is
confident he is in good shape.
"I have done a lot more training than I have done in recent years and feel
better," he said. "I plan to walk and run my way round. I'm looking forward
to it."
The oldest woman this year is Eileen Noble, from Bexleyheath, who is 83 and
running her 16th London Marathon.
Noble says running and marathon training in particular has helped her not
only stay physically healthy but has helped her mentally overcome some
tough times.
"I don't have any real secret to my running," she said. "It is just about
hanging in there and not giving up. Even when I have been ill as soon as I
can I've got back out running again - it's therapeutic.
"When my husband, Tony, died, it is running that kept me going. He died 16
years ago in the January and I ran the marathon that April. I didn't have
time to do much training and my friends were surprised I did it but I
thought 'I must do it'. I remember running four hours and 59 minutes that
year and being really pleased to scrape in under five hours."
Noble may be well into double figures in the number of completed London
Marathons but that does not mean the excitement of the event has waned.
"I really start to feel the excitement when I go to collect my number from
Expo," she said. "Then the day itself is just so exciting.
"I've got my daughter coming down to watch and my son will be following me
on the live tracking from his home in Australia. I'm looking forward to it.
I feel OK and though my training has been disrupted a bit by the weather,
I'm feeling fairly positive."
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