A running club from Cumbria is celebrating after their over-60s team claimed gold in the 2023 championships.

Northern Fells Running Club, based in Caldbeck, is celebrating the success of their Veteran 60 runners, who won the team gold medal in the 2023 English Fell Running Championships.

The four runners who run for Northern Fells Running Club call themselves the 'Old Geezers', with all of them being over 60 years old.

They competed in a series of races in 2023 to qualify for the team championships, with points awarded at each race depending on each runner's individual position.

Individually Tony Bolton won the bronze medal and Steve Rhodes came fifth. Trevor Symonds was 11th in the V65 category and they were all supported by Phil Pearson who couldn’t finish the series because he missed the earlier races through injury, but in previous years has secured a silver medal in the V60 individual championships. 

Tony only started running again at 57, after his son Harry, a shoe designer and British U23 Fell Champion for 2022, gifted him a pair of running shoes on Christmas Day. 

The keen cyclist quickly fell in love with running and now completes an average of 40 miles a week. 

He said: "With no training, and just two little jogs in shoes to see if they'd fit, I did my first fell race in January 2020, and I got hooked. I've done a lot of running since.

"This year, I turned 60 and I decided to see how I'd get on at the English Championships. I surprised myself and came third, at the first time of asking. I used to race competitively as a cyclist in the 70s and 80s. I didn't think I could run anymore, and it turns out, I can."

Northern Fells Running Club brought home the gold having posted the best average finishes across the 2023 series.

Tony added: "There are more and more people whose running careers are lasting a lot longer, and it was competitive in the individual and the team.

Anyone interested in Northern Fells Running Club can sign up online.