My first marathon - at the age of 101

Buster has made no concessions to a “healthy” lifestyle. Shunning the isotonic drinks usually favoured by distance runners, he prefers beer, and refuses to cut out the fags.

He said: “I only drink beer and I’ll be sticking to that for the marathon. Hopefully the pubs will keep me supplied while I go round – I don’t mind what it is as long as it’s a decent pint and not that gassy lager rubbish.
“And I’m not giving up smoking. I’m a creature of habit. I like to drink and I like to smoke, though I don’t do too much of anything. Mind you, I’ve been doing them longer than most people.”

The ex-Grenadier guard, born on September 1, 1906, works for Lambeth-based Pimlico Plumbers. His training regime is going well, despite his unorthodox refuelling habits, and he completed the Roding Valley half marathon last week in five hours 13 minutes.

“It was all right,” he said. “I had a couple of fag breaks, a couple of beer breaks and one comfort break on the way, but I was ready for a pint when I finished.”

But Buster was coy about the time he expected to post in the marathon, although that might have more to do with the expected flurry of bets likely to be made on his progress.

He said: “I can’t predict that. Some people say it’ll take me a week, but that’s too long. I’d miss too much beer if it took me that long.”

Buster’s training is supervised by Harmander Singh, no novice when it comes to preparing mature athletes for the gruelling race. He trained 96-year-old Fauja Singh, who completed the distance last year.

“Buster’s a great inspiration and I hope his efforts will encourage people to sponsor him,” said Harmander. “Ideally we’d like the FTSE 100 companies based in Canary Wharf to donate £101,000 each – £1,000 for every year of his age – to the charity to recognise the tremendous effort he’s making in doing the run.”

Buster is supporting the Rhys Daniels Trust. For details visit this site.