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13
Jul
Harrogate grandfather, 84, sets sights on 1,000 parkruns
A remarkable 84-year-old man from Harrogate has set a target of completing 1,000 parkruns.
Tony Ledwaba-Chapman has regularly taken part in the weekly five kilometre run on the Stray since 2012.
He recently notched up his 500th appearance and daughter Hannah Chapman said he has now set his sights on the 1,000 milestone.
Only one runner worldwide has ever completed 1,000 parkruns and Tony would need to take part every week for almost 10 years to hit the target.
But Hannah said her father, who worked as a doctor, is not a man to underestimate.
Tony got into running at the age of 42 when his 10-year-old stepson entered the Great North Run and they trained and ran together. Later that year he ran his first marathon.
When he started parkruns in 2012, aged 70, his best time was an outstanding 22 minutes.
Hannah said:
He was running full marathons into his 70s but unfortunately got hit by a car and broke both shins in multiple places. We thought he may not return to walking let alone running.
He's quite a character in the local community. He moved to Harrogate after many years working as an eye doctor in various African countries — he is very attached to Harrogate and Yorkshire generally as it is where his mother, my lovely gran, grew up. For a while he juggled his ophthalmic work in Leeds with working as a lollipop man and he didn't stop his NHS work until the day he turned 80.
Tony, who has five children and five grandchildren, has been a member of Nidd Valley Road Runners for over 20 years.
The vast majority of his parkruns have been on the Stray but he has also participated at nearby Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough and not-so-nearby South Africa.
He runs every day and hopes to achieve his 1,000 milestone by his mid 90s.
Running, says Hannah, “makes him feel physically and mentally fine and he wants to stay that way until he dies”.
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