Kenilworth's marathon man getting ever closer to 500th race

Despite being 72 years old, he will run his 465th marathon when he races in the London Marathon on Sunday April 24, and will raise £10,000 on top of the £85,000 he has already raised for the Brain and Spine Foundation in the process.

After that, David will have 35 marathons to go and £5,000 left to raise to complete his goal within the next three years.

He said: “Running marathons has sort of become my life. As long as I can do 14 to 15 marathons a year I shouldn’t have any problems in reaching 500.”

David, who has run an accountancy firm in Kenilworth since 1975, ran his first marathon in 1982 in Coventry.

He would often see the same faces at various marathons around the country, and a group of them challenged each other to see who could run 100 marathons first.

Although David did not win that particular challenge, he continued running marathons and passed 450 last year.

This year’s London Marathon will the 16th consecutive time he has run it for the Brain and Spine Foundation, who recently made him an ambassador for the charity thanks to his dedication.

He first decided to run for the charity after answering an advert, and has run for them in the London Marathon ever since.

He said: “I can’t let them go and they’re not going to let me go. The work they do is absolutely fantastic and there’s no other kind of help around like the help they provide.”

David will be joined by five runners from the Massey Ferguson running club in Coventry to make up ‘Team Phillips’, and around 50 people will be running for the foundation this year.

The former England rugby player Brian Moore will be the non-running captain of the team this year, and will significantly help fundraising.

Anyone wishing to donate can make a bank transfer to David’s marathon account with account number 01157302 and sort code 40-26-04. Alternatively, visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/phillips2016