Tommy’s born to run as he prepares for a half marathon at 74

At the age of 74 though, Banbridge man Tommy Fee is putting us all to shame, preparing to run in the Bath Half Marathon.

Tommy has already raised over £1,500 for Macmillan Cancer Support and is looking forward to getting going on Sunday alongside his grand-daughter in the midst of a field of 15,000 runners.

“A number of my colleagues in the teaching profession suffered from cancer so it was a worthy cause to help,” he said. ““My target was £500 so it’s already three times that and it hasn’t stopped coming in yet.

“My grand-daughter Fiona is a student at Bath University and she is running with me. She is raising money for Children’s Cancer.”

A fitness fanatic, Tommy says he’s ‘no superhero’ for his efforts.

“I do it for the fun of it,” he told the ‘LEADER.’ “I joined Banbridge Athletics Club and they encourage me a lot. I can usually do quite well in my age category, but that’s probably because there aren’t many in it!

“I have a keep-fit class in the Tech and I recently celebrated 40 years doing that. We do circuit training and it’s good fun.

“I do a lot of walking up the Mournes too with my friend Davy Doran who inspires me to do these things.”

Tommy is also a keen golfer and with all those activities, it’s little wonder he’s still fit as a fiddle.

“There is certainly an element of luck attached to it all too,” he said in a typically modest manner. “I’m very lucky at my age that my knees and my back are all still ok. A lot of people at my age wouldn’t be able to run.”

Tommy has also ran 45 5k races in the Parkrun series and isn’t finished yet, targetting 50 before he hangs up his trainers.

Fighting off a chesty cough this week, Tommy will fly over to see his daughter in Bristol before taking to the 13.1 mile course on Sunday morning.

If you want to help Tommy’s fund-raising, you can donate in person or go to www.justgiving.com/Thomas-Fee.