1 week Ago By [email protected] (Suzanne Moon)
Having last completed the London Marathon 33 years ago, Geoff Burgoin will be back on course at this year’s event. Undaunted by having turned 80, Geoff took part in the Great North Run in Newcastle in September last year and has continued his training to ensure he is fit for the marathon on April 27. He would like to raise £1,000 for Cancer Research UK because of the work it does to prevent a disease that has affected his wife Susan’s family.
“I’m hoping to finish the marathon in six hours, which sounds terrible when you’ve run a sub-four-hour marathon in the past, but I do have to remember I’m not in my 40s any more,” said Geoff. “One of the reasons I’m running the marathon is because I feel fortunate I’m still able to do it at my age, when a lot of other people even struggle to walk.” Geoff, who ran a haulage firm and worked as a quarry manager, was born in Glinton and lived in Market Deeping before moving to Wilsthorpe .
He started running in 1983 aged 42. “Some friends who lived down the road in the Deepings started running and asked me if I wanted to join them,” he recalled. “I’m sure I said ‘no’ but ended up joining them a couple of times.
The next thing I knew, I was entered into the Great Eastern Run.” The half marathon in Peterborough was Geoff’s first race, and when he ran it again in 2024 he wore his 1983 medal. Geoff ran the London Marathon for a second time in 1992, and the Great North Run half marathon in 2001 and 2024.
He meant to return for a marathon to mark a milestone birthday in the meantime, but did not get around to it - until now. These days his training takes him around the villages and countryside surrounding Wilsthorpe, with favourite routes being that of the Thurlby 10k race, which includes Swallow Hill, and a run out to Belmesthorpe and Ryhall. He also took part in the Burghley 7 race in Stamford in March.
Like many runners, part-way through a training run Geoff isn’t convinced he likes running at all, but he does enjoy the competition of a race and the feeling of having completed a distance. “I’m looking forward to running over Tower Bridge,” said Geoff. “I have good memories of that, and going by the Tower of London.
“But after I’ve finished, that will be it. No more London Marathons, although I hope to be doing the Langtoft 10k, Thurlby 10k and the Burghley 7 again.”.
