A 67-year-old man from Chesham ran his 34th consecutive London Marathon last weekend to keep his title as one of just 14 "ever-present" runners.

David Walker, has run every London Marathon since the race started in 1981 and he is part of an illustrious group of runners to have completed every race.

He said: "Being part of the ever-presents group is a nice feeling I was wearing our special vests and people who were running would come past and say things like ‘awesome’, ‘legend’, and ‘hats off to you’, that is always a motivator to keep going."

"On the day it is such a fantastic occasion, the London Marathon seems to get bigger and bigger every year, the crowd is always phenomenal."

Mr Walker, whose quickest time at the London Marathon is two hours, 45 minutes, finished this year’s race in just over five hours.

However, the Chiltern Harriers runner was only able to have four weeks training prior to this year’s race after suffering an Achilles tendon injury.

He said: "I had been struggling with an injury before this one, so I wasn’t able to get as much training in as I would have hoped.

"I had problems with my Achilles tendon and I was told not to run for six to eight weeks.

"It worked out alright as we were on holiday in New Zealand and Fiji so I was able to relax and I started to run again about four weeks before the marathon."

Despite still finishing the race, he has said preparation is key to success.

He said: "It is key to have a good pair of running shoes when running with a bit of cushion, when training its best to jog and walk, jog and walk, jog and walk just to improve slowly.

"I did the marathon with my daughter in 2000 and when she first started she couldn’t run around the block near her house which was about a mile."

David has already set his sights on more London Marathons as he aims to continue his success.