North Cotswold Tri and Run athlete Steve Edwards completed his 850th competitive marathon on Saturday.

Edwards finished second with a time of 3:28:06 in the V55 age category at the Nottingham Christmas Marathon.

His marathon running career started with a bet in 1981. During that time He has recorded 325 sub 3hr 15min finishes which is a GB record, 500 sub 3 hour 20min finishes and 769 sub 3 hour 30 minute finishes, both of which are world best records during his 31 year running career.

Edwards has, on average, ran a marathon every 13 days for the last 31 years.

Since the beginning of 2014, aged 51-56, he's ran 242 marathons, averaging 3hrs 20min per race which equates to one every 7½ days. His average finish time for all 850 marathons is 3 hours 18 minutes.

Edwards is hoping to achieve the world record for running 1000 official competitive marathon races in the fastest average finish time but he's admitted they're getting ever harder. "I'm not getting any younger and my ability to recover quickly from the extreme physical demands that a marathon places on the body is getting ever more difficult," he said. "The mental side of staying motivated and disciplined has become incredibly challenging, however for now I'm determined to keep going if my body will let me. Fortunately I have a very understanding wife and Teresa's support has played a huge part in all that I have achieved so far."