Blackheath runner, 69, reveals Lewisham’s ‘best-kept’ sporting secret
A 69-year-old athlete who only took up running in his early sixties has become the oldest person to receive funding from a sports charity.
John Barron from Blackheath, has won countless awards for his sporting prowess and will now be offered a boost from GLL’s Sports Foundation in Lewisham – an opportunity, he says, which is one of the area’s ‘best-kept secrets’.
Mr Barron’s award will enable him to train for free in sports centres across Lewisham and at the Alex Yee running track in Ladywell.
He said: “I was sporty when I was young and played football, tennis and cricket but life and children got in the way and I forgot about keeping fit.
“I discovered running just over a decade ago when I started doing ‘Parkruns’ in Hilly Fields, just for fun.
“The first time I tried it, I staggered around in flip-flops. It took me about 30 minutes and I thought I was going to die!
“But I found that running can be quite addictive – I also realised that I’m competitive – so I kept going back week-after-week and soon I was completing the circuit in 20 minutes.”
After signing up for Kent Athletics Club and gradually improving his speed and stamina, Mr Barron now competes in a variety of distances from 100m to 5km but considers 800m to be his ‘best’ race.
Running has been a godsend, he says, particularly since he wound up the design firm he’d founded thirty-five years earlier.
He said: “People think of running as an individual activity but you’re actually part of a community which is very rewarding.
“It’s brought me into contact with people of all ages. Obviously, keeping fit and healthy is important but exercise is also crucial for mental health.”
The Sport Foundation was set up seventeen years ago by charitable social enterprise GLL which runs leisure centres in Lewisham in partnership with the council under the ‘Better’ brand.
The Foundation has just announced that it will support almost 3,000 athletes in 2025 across England and Wales including those in Lewisham, Croydon, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea.
Mr Barron said: “The Sport Foundation is great but more people need to know about it.
“Lewisham is a very diverse borough and lots of communities might not even be aware of the funding that’s available. I’m helping to spread the word so that other local people might apply.”
For more information on GLL’s Sport Foundation, visit www.gllsportfoundation.org
Pictured top: John Barron (left) from Blackheath takes to the track (Picture: GLL)
