Speedy 65-year-old celebrates beating world record

Alistair Walker took up running again at 58

A 65-year-old runner from the Borders is celebrating beating a world record for his age category.

Alastair Walker of Hawick clocked a time of 34m 32s in the 10km road race at the British Masters championships in Grangemouth on Sunday.

He said he was surprised to shave more than a minute off the previous best for the 65 and over age group.

He is now setting his sights on picking up a "couple of golds" at the world championships in Finland this summer.

Mr Walker said that he only took up running again in his late 50s after a lengthy break.

"I'm from Hawick so, like everybody else in Hawick, I played rugby initially," he said.

"I gave that up and I ran from about 22 to 38.

"I didn't run for 20 years, I took it up again when I was 58 so I had quite a hiatus mid-stream."

Mr Walker is targeting more success at the world championships later this year

He has previously broken the 3km indoor record for his age group and had an eye on the 10k time at the weekend.

He said he knew he was in "good shape" ahead of the race.

"It was good, it wasn't half bad, I'm delighted to have broken that record," he said.

"I think it was over a minute, which was pretty good going, I didn't think I would break it as much, I was quite surprised to see it was over a minute.

"I was conscious of the record when I was doing the race - I knew the splits of the kilometres I needed to do to come inside the old existing record."

The Teviotdale Harriers runner said he had had a "good year so far" and hopes to crown it with more success at the world championships in late June and early July.

His current training regime sees him cover about 70 miles a week to keep in shape.

"I am out every day," he explained.

"I am retired so I have nothing else to do with my time so that helps."