Race news: Scottish Half Marathon - Saturday, September 19, 2015
Age is no barrier to 70 year old runner Graham Smith, who has already entered the 2015 Scottish Half Marathon. Edinburgh-based Smith can also comfortably beat runners half his age, despite being 71 by the time next year’s race comes round on Saturday 19 September.
A former white water canoeist who represented Scotland in 1970s, Smith first took up running in 1976. His best ever marathon was in 1984 when he ran 2:33:19 at the now defunct Waverley Market Marathon the Scottish capital.
He has ran 15 sub-three hour marathons including the 2000 London Marathon, where he was the first male in the over 55 class in 2h46m, before stepping down to the more sedate half marathon distance.
Despite being in what many would consider their twilight years, Smith is still as enthusiastic as ever about his running. “It’s like a drug.” He says. “I think any runner can relate to that. I go to the gym every day and I spend four or five days a week running. If I don’t manage to get out running, that day just doesn’t seem to have been as worthwhile.”
Around 4,000 runners took part in this year’s inaugural Scottish Half Marathon, which takes place along the picturesque East Lothian coastline, finishing in the grand settings of Musselburgh Racecourse. Smith is keen to be part of the 2015 event having missed out this year.
“I couldn’t do this year’s Scottish Half Marathon as I flew out on holiday to Menorca the very same day, otherwise I would have been well up for it. Next year I will do three other half marathons before the Scottish Half.”
So far, the septuagenarian shows no signs of slowing down. He says: “I think at my age, the body dictates what you can do. But – touch wood – I have had no major problems. My wife thinks I should be looking at doing 10k runs instead. But I think 1h30m is the sort of time I still think I am capable of getting under and so I’ll carry on.
“I am a runner that gets to a certain pace and can stick with it. It doesn’t matter whether it is mile 2, mile 9 or mile 13 - I am running the same time. There is no peak and trough situation.”
Standard entries for the Scottish Half Marathon start from £29.57. To sign up, visit www.scottishhalfmarathon.com
