5 elite runners who started late in life

#2 Priscilla Welch

Welch, pictured in 1996, won the New York Marathon in her 40s

Priscilla Welch’s story is extraordinary, and not just because of her age. Serving in the British army, Bedford-born Welch wasn’t just a non-runner – she was also a heavy smoker. Welch went through a pack a day by her own admission, a quantitiy that would wreak havoc on one’s lungs.

She had never been a runner before – which means the strain on her lungs would have been even more than it would have for someone training for a long time. Combined with her smoking habit, it meant Welch was one of the most unlikely candidates for what she went on to do – run the London Marathon a year later.

Her training became so intensive that Welch joined the British Olympic team 4 years later, participating at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, and at the age of 40, having only run competitively for over 4 years, finished in 6^th place.

Following this, she began setting world records in her age group, then deciding to run the New York Marathon. Welch ran both New York and London that year, taking top prize at the former and second at the latter. Although she did not take up a chance to medal at that year's Rome Championships, she set the record for her age group in Boston that year – a record that lasted for over a decade.

The Englishwoman also fought breast cancer; she’s currently 70-years-old and still keeps active.