Dalton man clocked up 398 races and £25,000 for charity in 25 years of running

Jun 10 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Dalton man clocked up 398 races and £25,000 for charity in 25 years of running

HE’S clocked up 50 marathons, 112 half marathons and countless 10km runs – and at 77, Arnold Pickup plans to keep on running.

Arnold, of Dalton, has run an amazing 398 races since taking up running aged 52.

He has also raised more than £25,000 for charities with his racing efforts.

He has travelled the world to compete in races, running in countries such as Moscow, Barbados, France, Spain, Crete, Malta and Yugoslavia.

Only last month he visited Malta to run two races – an eight mile and a 10km – and is set to visit the island again in October for a race.

Arnold, a former member of Longwood Harriers, began running after his nephew Paul Pickup persuaded him to take part in a Christmas race in Barnsley in the early 1980s.

He said: “Running was a big thing after the marathon started in 1981. I went to the Barnsley race and it kicked me off. I had only ever played a bit of rugby and I had always fancied running. But I thought I was at an age where I shouldn’t be running.”

Arnold, a retired construction worker, gradually built up his fitness, progressing from eight mile races to his first full marathon in 1984, which he ran in a time of three hours and 45 minutes.

His best ever marathon time was in 1989 in London, when he completed the 26 miles in three hours and 28 minutes.

It was at the 1984 marathon that his fundraising began.

He said: “I decided it would help motivation to do it for an additional purpose, so I did it for Cancer Research.

“I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has sponsored me over the years, some have done so from the beginning.”