John Barron, a 70-year-old athlete from Blackheath, only took up running in his early sixties but has gone on to win countless awards for his sporting prowess.

He is the oldest person to receive funding this year from GLL’s Sports Foundation in Lewisham – an opportunity, he says, which is one of the area’s ‘best-kept secrets’.

“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,” he recalls. “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 round 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.

placeholder image — John Barron, on the left.

“I got to know some of the other runners and noticed that some of them were getting much better. I learned that some of them had secretly joined running clubs so I did too!”

After signing up for Kent Athletics Club and gradually improving his speed and stamina, John now competes in a variety of distances from 100m to 5k but considers 800m to be his ‘best’ race. He recently took part in a 5k race in Hyde Park in central London and will be participating in a number of competitions this summer.

Running has been a godsend, he says, particularly since he wound up the design firm he’d founded thirty-five years earlier. “People think of running as an individual activity but you’re actually part of a community which is very rewarding,” he points out. “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.”

John has two grown-up children who share his interest in fitness. “I think they’re proud of me,” he chuckles, “though my son dreads running with me because he’s more of a cyclist and doesn’t want to keep up with my pace. My daughter’s much faster than me but she wouldn’t be seen dead running with her dad!”

Meanwhile, his wife, Karen, he says, banished his collection of medals to the loft some time ago so he has no idea how many there are.

The Sport Foundation was set up seventeen years ago by charitable social enterprise GLL which runs leisure centres in the borough of Lewisham in partnership with the local council under the ‘Better’ brand. Supporting the wellbeing of local communities is an important part of the organisation’s ethos.

The Foundation has just announced that it will support almost 3,000 athletes in 2025 across England and Wales including those in the south London boroughs of Lewisham, Croydon, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Kensington and Chelsea. Past recipients have included Daryll Neita and Tom Daley.

John’s award will enable him to train for free in Better sports centres and at the Alex Yee running track in Ladywell.

“The Sport Foundation is great but more people need to know about it,” he notes. “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 gllsportfoundation.org