STEVE Edwards is targeting his 1,000th marathon after completing yet another mindboggling milestone.

Saturday's Nottingham Christmas Marathon was the 56-year-old's 850th official 26-mile run, a whopping record that began as a fun bet way back in 1981.

The North Cotswold Tri & Run club member crossed the line in a time of 3:28:06 to finish second in the V55 (55 and over) category.

That was not too far away from the 325 sub-three-and-a-quarter-hour finishes Edwards has achieved in the past, a British record.

His 500 sub three-hour-20 finishes and 769 sub three-and-a-half-hour finishes are world records. His overall average finish time across the 850 is three hours, 18 minutes.

Over the past 31 years, he has averaged a marathon every 13 days and since the beginning of 2014, 242 courses have been completed in 255 weeks.

And now Edwards wants another global standard by setting the best average time across 1,000 races, despite the rigours of his rather demanding hobby becoming increasingly tricky.

"I'm not getting any younger and my ability to recover quickly from the extreme physical demands that a marathon places on the body is getting ever more difficult," he said.

"The mental side of staying motivated and disciplined has also become incredibly challenging, but for now I'm determined to keep going if my body will let me.

"Fortunately, I have a very understanding wife and Teresa's support has played a huge part in all that I have achieved so far."