Moreton marathon man completes 900th race

Steve Edwards, 59, has become the first person in the world to run the staggering number of marathons, all under a time of three hours and 45 minutes.

Edwards, from Longborough just outside Moreton, ran three of these in October with times of 3:33 at Dorney Lake, 3:35 at Bedford and 3:42 at Milton Keynes.

Speaking after the latter, he said: "It was such a relief to see the finish line, each mile seems to be a battle now, the strong breeze on the course around Caldecotte Lake made running all that bit harder.”

Edwards crosses the line at Bedford for number 899

The unique landmark adds to his already impressive collection of feats.

In May Edwards became the first person to run 800 sub three and a half hour marathons.

To date, Edwards has run a grand total of 918 marathons with his eyes set firmly on the ultimate world record.

He hopes to become the first person to complete 1000 marathons with an average time of under three hours and 30 minutes.

Edwards added: “My ongoing injury niggles are something I'm having to manage in every race but I'm determined to try and keep going for the 1000 record, I'll just take it a mile at a time and a race at a time and keep my fingers crossed that I'll get there."

Edwards reached the 900 milestone with a time of 3h42 at Milton Keynes

Edwards’ marathon running career began around 40 years ago and he has run a marathon on average every 13 days for the last 33 years.

Currently, Edwards’ average time across his 918 races is just over three hours and 19 minutes.

With 82 marathons to go to reach the 1000 mark, Edwards has plenty of leeway to work with.

Edwards has also used his running career to support a local charity, Kate’s Home Nursing, and so far, he has raised over £7,000 for the Bourton-based charity.