There’s a bottle of wine at Richard Boseley’s home in Hempsted, Gloucester, which has been there for a while and remains untouched.

And there’s a very special reason why the 61-year-old Severn Athletic Club runner insists it will remain unopened.

“It was my first ever running prize, I’ll never open it,” said Boseley, who is running the Gloucester Half Marathon on Sunday.

He won the award in the Gloucester 10K in 2022 and added: "I was first in my age group, I was competing in the 60-69 age group.

“It was Saturday 12th June which was the day after my 60th birthday.

“After the race I had to dash off, I didn’t even know I’d won a prize!”

He found out the following day and was obviously delighted to receive a bottle of red.

That red letter day - he completed in 43 minutes, 16 seconds - came some three years after he began running regularly.

When he first started he weighed around 16 stone but these days he’s more than four stone lighter and he said: “I’ve always been an occasional runner but I started doing some park runs in 2019.

“I wanted to lose weight and I also did it for my mental health, I wanted to make a bit more time for me.”

And he was keen to challenge himself because in that same year he entered the Gloucester 10K for the first time.

“I saw it advertised,” he said. “I thought, ‘It can’t be that bad…’ but it nearly killed me!”

He crossed the finishing line in 57 minutes so has clearly come a long way in a short time. Last year he ran the 10K in 41 minutes, 32 seconds and for the second year running was first in his age group.

He joined Seven AC in the summer of 2020 and has been piling up the age group wins in recent times.

“Last year I ran 38 races and came first in age group in 29 of them,” he said with obvious pride. “I was second in three of them and third in three others.”

Those successes have come on the road and over cross-country and he’s certainly looking forward to Sunday’s Gloucester Half Marathon (9am start).

“I think it will be a great event, it’s a nice flat run,” said Boseley, who is originally from the Forest of Dean.

“It’s a really good route, there are some beautiful places in Gloucester, I never realised how beautiful Gloucester was until I started running.”

His personal best for the half marathon was set at Stroud last year and, like most runners, he has all his times at his fingertips.

“I ran one hour, 28 minutes, 43 seconds,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I can even tell you what shoes I was wearing.”

For the record, he was wearing Nike Alphafly that day and the self-employed builder will be looking to cement his position as one of the big improvers at Severn AC in Sunday’s race.

And he’s certainly a huge fan of the club.

“When I joined I was a 25-minute 5K-er,” he said. “I thought I wasn’t good enough but in my time at the club no-one has made me feel that I’m below the level of anyone else.

“It’s such a friendly club and it’s really added to my life. I’d wholeheartedly recommend the club to anyone who likes running.”

His best for the 5K is now 19 minutes, 14 seconds and he added: “Not bad for an old one.”