Jon Mansfield readily admits that he doesn’t really enjoy running.

That’s some confession by someone who is one of the driving forces at Tewkesbury Running Club and who is actually a very decent runner.

It becomes even more surprising when you consider that he is planning to run the Cheltenham Half Marathon on Sunday 30th September – which just happens to be his 51st birthday!

To be fair, it’s not the running so much as all the aches that go with it that Mansfield is not so keen on.

And when you’re 50 years old, those aches and pains are far more reluctant to go away of course.

“I find running can be very painful,” he said. “I don’t really enjoy it, it’s so demanding on the body. Running is tough but it’s the only thing that gets you very fit.

“Before I started running I was two stone heavier and I had a chubby face.”

That was 20 years ago. “Up until I was 30 I’d had a non-sporting background,” he said. “I used to fish when I was younger at Upper Lode weir which is the largest weir on the River Severn.”

He was pretty good too because when he was at Tewkesbury School he was part of a six-strong team that won the county championships – his individual catch beating the total of the second placed team.

But although he knew the thrill of being a winner back then it was to be another decade or more before those competitive juices started to re-surface.

“Initially I was a triathlete,” said Mansfield, “even though I couldn’t really swim. I started from nothing.”

And it wasn’t just in the swimming that he was a complete novice.

“It wasn’t until I was 30 that I ran my first mile non-stop,” he chuckled.

His cycling wasn’t much better so when he entered his first triathlon it was no surprise that he didn’t do too well.

“It was the Tewkesbury Triathlon 1997 and I wasn’t able to run all the way,” he recalled. “I had to walk some of the way and I came 212th which was near the back.”

But even though it had been a struggle, Mansfield saw hope for the future.

“When you start something and you are really poor at it, each time you do it again you become better,” he said.

And that was certainly true for Mansfield.

“I became five times South West regional age group triathlon champion from 2005 to 2009,” he said with obvious pride.

Running was always his strongest discipline and he joined what was then Tewkesbury Athletics Club 15 years ago.

“There were a dozen men and no women,” recalled Mansfield, who works for Severn Trent. “Now we call ourselves Tewkesbury Running Club, we’ve got 100 members and we have some really good women.”

That membership includes top distance runners Shona Crombie-Hicks and Angie Sadler as well as veteran runner Mike Ward who is 82.

These days Mansfield is on the club’s committee and looks after their website. He has also been captain on a couple of occasions in the past and holds speed and technique coaching sessions with club members on Friday evenings. The club were formed in 1987 and he’s now won the club championship a record 10 times.

The club have been a big part of his life over the past decade and a half and they in turn have helped him to continue to clock up some impressive performances.

“I won the 50 age group in the Offa’s Dyke 12 miles by Tintern Abbey,” he said. “And I won my age category in the Dave McNamee Memorial race at Temple Guiting.

“In Tewkesbury Triathlon in May this year, I scooped the V50 and also timed the fastest transition from swimmer to cyclist with 19 seconds.

“I’m okay for my age! I think when I was 45 I was running very well – on my 45th birthday I won the National Corporate Half Marathon championship in 77 minutes.”

And it’s not just with his running that he’s been making people sit up and take notice.

“I won a Half Ironman Triathlon at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire in 2015,” he said. “That was the pinnacle. I’ve also done a couple of Ironman races in Lanzarote in 30 degrees – that was tough.”

Closer to home he ran the London Marathon in a very impressive two hours, 47 minutes in 2012. The London Marathon is one of the iconic races on the running calendar of course but Mansfield insists: “I find the Cheltenham Half Marathon equally as enjoyable.

“Running down through The Prom, Lansdown and the along High Street, the atmosphere in Cheltenham is special. I’d easily do the Cheltenham Half ahead of the London.”

So now it’s clear why he’s running the race on his 51st birthday!

“If I don’t keep running I’ll get unfit,” he explained.

Not that there appears to be much danger of that because Mansfield is also a member of Cheltenham and County Cycling Club.

“I do a time trial on Thursday evenings,” he said, “and my personal best for 25 miles is 55 minutes.”

That’s pretty good going and he says that the great thing about being a triathlete is that if you have a sore ankle you can still swim and if you have a sore shoulder you can go out for a ride.

And his body does get really sore.

“When you get out of bed in the morning, if it isn’t your knee, it’s your back or your hip or your ankle,” he said. “There’s always something. That’s why I’ll end up living in a bungalow I think!

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve been trampled on by a herd of elephants, it’s my age.

“Fortunately there are age categories in running!”

Indeed there are, and you get the definite impression that Mansfield will be competing in them for many more years to come.