Matt Evans was in a pub when he put his hand up to run in this year’s London Marathon.

The 31-year-old Cheltenham Harrier can’t remember which one – it must have been a good night! – but there’s every chance he’ll spot it when he competes in this year’s race on Sunday 23^rd April.

“I was on a pub crawl in London,” he told The Local Answer. “It was just before Christmas, it was somewhere near Tower Bridge.”

The 26.2-mile route takes the runners over Tower Bridge, of course, and Evans is certainly looking forward to the big day because it will be the first time he has taken part in what is one of the world’s most iconic races.

“I’d missed out on a club place before, the last time in 2020,” he explained. “There were three of us going for two places and I was gutted not to get in. As it turned out, the race was delayed because of Covid so I was quite pleased I didn’t get a place in the end.

“This year it was a bit last-minute. I received the email and stuck my name in the hat, no-one else came forward. Running the London Marathon is something that has been on my list, especially as at my age I’m coming into my prime for the distance.”

Not that he has much marathon experience.

“I’ve only run one before,” he said. “That was in Poland in 2018.”

That was a last-minute decision as well, although the decision to run in Krakow really was what you’d call last-minute.”

“We were on a family holiday and we were looking for something to do,” said Evans, who joined the Harriers in 2013. “There was a running festival on and I thought I’d do the 10K. Unfortunately, that was fully booked but the organisers said they had spaces in the marathon.”

So with no more than 24 hours’ notice he ran his first ever marathon and he did so in very impressive style, finishing in just under three hours, 20 minutes.

In London, with some proper training behind him, he’s hoping to go a lot faster.

“I’m aiming to get as close to three hours as possible,” he said. “It would be amazing to break three hours, that’s the ultimate aim but it will be a bit of a push. Anywhere around 3.05 I’ll be happy with.”

And if hard work counts for anything, he’ll certainly achieve his target time.

“I’m trying to give it everything I’ve got, I want to be competitive, I want to race,” he said. “I don’t want to have any regrets. I think I’ll be nervous on the day but I’m more nervous about staying fit and healthy in the run-up to the race.

“Once I’m there I know what I’ve got to do. I must make sure I don’t go off too quickly, it’s very easy to get it wrong.”

Happily, Evans, a former Pate’s Grammar School pupil, has been getting a lot more right than wrong over the years.

He first started running when he went to Leeds University back in 2010.

“I used to do the parkruns,” he explained. “Leeds was one of the first places outside London to stage parkruns and in my final year I joined the university running club.”

His times have improved dramatically since those early days, of course.

“When I first joined the Harriers I used to run 5Ks and 10Ks,” said Evans, an ecologist who lives in Bishop’s Cleeve. “Then I started doing cross-country and after that half-marathons.”

Ask him which is his favourite distance and he laughs before saying: “The shorter ones, they are over the quickest!”

Push him and he’ll say 5K is his favourite distance, but he’s clearly one of those people that all clubs love to have on their books because he’s ready to turn his hand to anything.

“In the summer I’ll fill in for the club at the athletics meetings,” he said. “I’ve done the 400 metres hurdles, the shot put and the hammer – I can just about get the hammer out of the cage!

“I’ve also done the 110 metre hurdles, they’re high!”

He reckons his best distance is the half-marathon and he has a top time of one hour, 20 minutes, 15 seconds, which is obviously pretty good going.

It goes without saying that he’s going to run plenty more half-marathons in the years to come, but does he think he’ll make a career out of marathon running?

“I doubt it,” he said. “That’s why I want to give everything to the London Marathon.”