A MAN who took up running when he was made redundant more than 20 years ago is now celebrating his success at 78 years old.

Gordon Booth has just risen to the top of the rankings in British fell running.

The Longwood Harrier ran the race of his life to go top of the British Male Veterans Over-75 Rankings.

The 10-mile undulating course around Derwent Water in the Lake District was a challenging one, but Booth coped with both the distance and its 900ft of ascent to run out an easy winner of his category.

And the proud Almondbury man admits he has come a long, long way since his first tentative steps as a runner more than 20 years ago.

He said: “I worked at Kossett Carpets in Brighouse for 21 years when they suddenly made me redundant.

“To be honest, I was feeling very down and I also realised I was getting fat with nothing to do to occupy my time.

“I decided I had to do something so I opened the door and set off on a run. It was all I could afford – I didn’t have the money for fancy gyms or sports clubs.

“I found it easy and I’m still running. I’d love to go on running as long as I can, well into my 80s.”

Booth’s record is astonishing.

He ran his first marathon just 15 months after that first run and has now completed several in less than three hours.

He has won countless fell running championships across the country and has topped the age group rankings at many distances ranging from 800m to 10 miles.

Away from the competitive side, he has also climbed all 284 Scottish Munros (many of them several times), twice traversed the Cuillin Ridge on Skye, completed eleven coast to coast walks across Scotland and climbed some serious mountains.

“I’m still running, into my late 70s, in the belief that running more than anything else keeps me young in body, mind and spirit.

“Someone said: ‘You don’t stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running’. Nevertheless, the older I get, the better I seem to be.

“I run up to 25 miles a week in training, usually around Castle Hill, although weather like we had yesterday does stop me.

“And I’m lucky that my partner of 20 odd years, Sheila Ely, is also a runner and we share some great times.”

His proudest achievement is a medal for winning the Three Peaks Fell Race.

“I had walked the Three Peaks many times and now I’m delighted my name is on the race trophy.”