Peter Mitchener is loving life as chairman of Almost Athletes, the Cheltenham-based running club that was formed in 1988 and now boasts some 400 members.

He took over from Claire Hawes, who remains an active member, in September and while he admits there “wasn’t a stampede of people” wanting to replace her, it appears the club have got just the right the man for the job because as he says quite simply: “I love running.”

And as if to the prove the point, he was preparing to go off on a five-mile training run with a friend, who is also a member of Almost Athletes, as soon as he’d finished talking to The Local Answer.

The 56-year-old has been running on and off for most of his life.

“I used to run at school,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I made the mistake of doing well in a cross-country trial and I was always in the school teams after that!”

School was in St Albans in Hertfordshire but Mitchener, who used to work in insurance and lives in Cheltenham, has been part and parcel of Gloucestershire life for some three decades.

“I moved here over 30 years ago,” he continued. “I haven’t always run, I usually ran when I was stressed or I had exams.

“But I started running much more in 2013 and it’s all gone on from there.

“I started off doing parkruns and I became a member of the team that organised the parkruns in Pittville.

“Now I do all the distances up to marathon, that’s quite a few.”

He joined Almost Athletes in 2015 on the recommendation of his neighbour Dave McGrath, a member of the committee at Almost Athletes, who suggested that Mitchener, known to most people as Mitch, would benefit from joining the club.

And McGrath wasn’t wrong because Mitchener has been churning out some pretty impressive times over the weeks, months and years, including a marathon best of three hours, 47 minutes in Manchester.

That was in 2019, a race he ran with his partner.

“We ran together and she’s really annoyed because the time she was given is one second slower than mine,” he laughed, before adding, “our PBs are pretty close across all distances, although in terms of comparisons she is a better female runner than I am a male runner.”

Mitchener, has also run the 26.2 miles in three hours, 58 in Sydney, Australia, where he paced a friend, and, a bit closer to home, around Pittville Park.

“That was the Virtual London Marathon in 2020,” he explained. “It was 14 laps of the park, I had lots of help from people who ran part of the way with me.

“My aim is always to run every marathon under four hours.”

So what is his favourite distance?

“I’d probably say the half marathon,” he said. “It’s a challenge because it’s still quite a long way but when you’re training for it it’s not as hard on your body as the marathon, the marathon is a very physical and mental challenge.”

Mitchener, who remains a big fan of parkruns, was recovering from a back problem when he spoke to The Local Answer and he said: “At the moment I’m running three times a week but normally I run six times a week, about 30 miles.

“It’s good for the brain – my mental health – and I really enjoy it, I am very enthusiastic about running.”

He’s also very enthusiastic about all things Almost Athletes, which is very apparent within a few moments of talking to him.

“We’re a very inclusive club with a massive range of ability,” he said.

“Some of our runners aren’t the fastest and some are social runners, but at the other end of the scale we’ve got some pretty quick runners, we’ve got a number of sub three-hour marathon runners.

“At our club you are always going to find someone to run with who has the same sort of ability as you.”

And for Mitchener, who is a running leader, it’s not all about the running, it’s everything that goes with it as well.

“We are a friendly and very welcoming club and, as I’ve said, very inclusive. That all resonates with my values. I want the club to stay like that and develop in that way.

“We want people to enjoy their running and for those who want to develop we’ve got coaches who can help them achieve their aims.”

Running is clearly a big part of Mitchener’s life, even though he is also a keen tennis player – he’s a member at East Glos – and, happily, these days he has much more time to do the things that he enjoys doing.

“I got made redundant just under two years ago,” he explained. “I decided that I didn’t need to work anymore and I’m now doing lots of voluntary work in the community.

“I’m really enjoying it and it’s much more fulfilling than working in insurance!”