Fareham's 85-year-old parkrun regular Peter Adams looks to inspire others and show age is no barrier
The former naval lieutenant is a regular at parkrun events across the area and completed his 71st national weekly 5k event at his nearby Fareham course on Saturday, recording a time of 34minutes 09seconds.
Adams, a keen runner since his days as a student at the Portsmouth Technology School in Hilsea, first took part in a parkrun event at Havant's Staunton Country Park course nine years ago – then-aged 76.
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Hide AdSince his first introduction to the global fun-run phenomenon, Adams has been present at events far and wide from Fareham to Ipswich, Kesgrave to Havant.
Evergreen Fareham resident Adams in fact holds nine 80-84 age group records at differing courses, as well as 10 records in the 85-89 age bracket at various venues.
And he hopes his story of continuing running into his mid-80s - Adams completes runs of around the 5k distance range bi-weekly - can inspire others to show old age should not prevent runners to carry on doing what they love.
‘It's a good social gathering (parkrun events), people are always very friendly and will always talk to you, so it's a good thing to be involved in,’ Adams said of the parkrun events he has had involvement in over the past past nine years.
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Hide Ad‘I'm sure there are people who can (carry on running into later years) - obviously a lot of people are not invested in running - those who are running, I hope I could be inspirational in getting them to continue to run as long as they can.
‘I've never been a good runner but now get a good degree of success as I'm virtually last-man standing in my age group.
‘I'm very fortunate to be free of osteoarthritis but my fitness is not entirely down to luck. I eat fairly sensibly, although I no longer work out at a gym, I exercise regularly and generally run twice a week. I think parkruns are wonderful and have started many people getting into regular running.
‘I hope I may be an inspiration into getting more elderly runners to keep running. I enjoy my running and I shall I continue running as long as I can.'
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Hide AdWhen Adams is not entering himself into parkrun events - his latest outing at Fareham was the first he's been involved in since New Year's Day - he regularly volunteers at the Cams Hall Estate course close to his home to offer a helping hand.
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