An 80-year-old Wallsend man is preparing to run his 20 th half marathon this weekend in honour of his father who died 40 years ago.
Bill Brown will be donning his running shoes and purple Pancreatic Cancer UK top for the Gateshead Half Marathon on May 1 as he looks to raise money for the charity which campaigns for better care, treatment and research into the disease which killed his own father just a year before he was due to retire.
The octogenarian who suffers from osteoporosis is doing the half marathon as part of an 80 th birthday fundraiser for Pancreatic Cancer UK, which he hopes will raise hundreds of pounds towards helping find a cure for the devastating disease which is more prevalent in men and sees around 10,000 new cases diagnosed every year.
Bill’s training for the half marathon saw him take part in the North Tyneside 10k on Easter weekend, which he completed alongside 2,000 other runners in 1:09.55 – just 29 seconds slower than when he last stepped out for the same race pre- Covid in 2019.
Now the father of three and grandad of nine who has been married to Pamela for more than 50 years, is looking to do himself proud at the Gateshead Half Marathon in memory of his dad. The former mechanical engineer who went into the Merchant Navy at 21 and has worked in the Middle East and North Africa, said: “My father died of pancreatic cancer 40 years ago. He went through a lot of pain and did suffer as at that time there was little research being done into the cancer.
“Even to this day they still haven’t conquered pancreatic cancer. It I still a very difficult cancer to treat and is usually very aggressive and usually takes its victims fairly quickly but painfully.
“My own father died within eight months of being diagnosed. He was only 64, which was another sad thing as he had got a golden handshake and was looking forward to retirement and tending to his garden and his greenhouse, and then he was dead before he was 65.
“It was an awful thing. It’s awful for anyone who passes away early in their life. So when I turned 80 it seemed like a good idea to mark it by raising money for Pancreatic Research UK as their mission means a lot to me because of my father and what he went through.”
Running was the obvious vehicle for Bill to use.
A member of Heaton Harriers, he has been running for more than half his life and estimates he has completed 12 marathons on top of his scores of half marathons, 5k and 10k races and competition events. Bill has even competed in triathlons and the Cyclone Cycling challenge through Northumberland.
Bill, who finally retired at 71, doesn’t think his age is a barrier to keeping fit and active and believes staying mobile “is what keeps me healthy. Mobility gets trickier the older you get. You have to keep moving. Once you stop your joints seize up.”
But he’s the first to admit he’s not as fast as he once was. “If I go out for a training run I do about 12 minute miles. To put that into context, in 1994 I ran a marathon in Saudi Arabia and I did it in 2:56 and my average speed over 26 miles was six minutes 49 seconds per mile.
“I’m pretty slow and generally have to go running by myself these days as I’m too slow to keep up with others.”
That doesn’t stop him heading out to train first thing most mornings and it’s not unusual to see him eating up the tarmac around Holystone, Backworth and Earsdon.
But now the big race looms on May 1 for Bill, who refuses to give in to old age. He said: “My body is in pretty good shape. I’ve got the odd ache and pain like any person my age would have, but I can live with that.”
