John Matthews may be over 70 years old, but the race director of the Forest of Dean Autumn Half Marathon is showing no signs of slowing down.

As well as organising the big race on Sunday 24th September – and helping run the Spring Half Marathon in March – he remains a keen cricketer and had one eye on the weather when he spoke to The Local Answer yesterday.

“I’ve got a game against Gloucestershire over-70s tomorrow (Thursday),” he said. “I play for Worcestershire’s over-70s. I still play the odd game for Lydney 3rds to help out as well.”

The over-70s game is at Droitwich – Matthews was born in Alvechurch, near Redditch – and cricket has played a big part in Matthews’ life.

A batsman/wicketkeeper, he first put on the pads for his local village side Hopwood which was just a Ben Stokes six-hit from where he lived in Worcestershire.

“My dad was captain and mum made the teas,” he remembers.

His work with Britannic Assurance brought him to Gloucestershire – and more specifically the Forest – 40 years ago and ever since then he has been a member of Lydney Cricket Club.

He was also a big mover and shaker for Forest Nomads, a team established specifically to go on overseas tours.

And they didn’t just hop over to the Isle of Wight or the Channel Islands – they went all over the world to play cricket.

“We’d go to the West indies, South Africa, Thailand, Zimbabwe, India,” said Matthews. “It was a fantastic experience. I’ve been to the Taj Mahal, I’ve been in a microlight above the Victoria Falls – incredible times.

“I’d organise the tours every two years. We’d go for three weeks and play nine one-day games.

“The cricket was a pretty good standard and we’d take some reinforcements – Mark Alleyne and Tony Cottey, the old Glamorgan cricketer, both came on tour with us.”

Those tours took some arranging, of course, and it is those organisational skills that have come to the fore over the past few years where the half marathons are concerned.

So how did he get involved?

“I joined the Rotary Club about 14 years ago and it was at the time when they were just starting to run the Spring and Autumn races,” he said.

“I did a bit of marshalling for them but I remember getting very wet so I decided I’d be better off running in the half marathon.”

That was 12 years ago at the age of 60 and it was the one and only time that he has run a half marathon.

“That was enough!”, he laughed. “I did some training for the race but not enough. But I was determined to finish because I’d raised £1,000 for the Forest Oaks hospice.”

After that he felt his skills were best suited to an administrative role. He became Spring Half Marathon organiser Chris Hammersley’s right-hand man and this is his sixth year as race director of the Autumn Half Marathon.

“We’ve got about 430 entries so far which is pretty good,” he said. “We had nearly 900 runners last year and this year we’re hoping for anything from 1,000 to 1,500.

“The Autumn race isn’t as big as the Spring run,” he said. “We’re trying to build it up but the limit is 1,500. It starts and finishes in the field at Speech House and is run entirely in the Forest. There are no roads.”

The race also incorporates a 5K. Last year about 150 runners took part in the shorter distance and this year Matthews, who was also a keen footballer back in the day, is hoping the race can attract 250 this time around.

A total of 250 would, of course, be very satisfying for Worcestershire over-70s’ cricketers at Droitwich today and if they can get anywhere near that score it may be too many for their opponents.

We played Gloucestershire a couple of weeks ago at Stowell Park and we whooped them,” he laughed. “We bowled them out for something like 106 and won by nine wickets.”

Matthews, who is married to Marge, didn’t get a bat that day but he did complete a stumping.

“I stand up to all the bowlers,” he chuckled. “They’re not as quick as they used to be!”