Brit athletics champion, 81, is a MONK who took 70 YEARS to claim first gold after ‘nearly collapsing' on first run

The Sun

06-06-2025

A MARATHON monk has become a British athletics champion after SEVENTY YEARS despite 'nearly collapsing' on his first run.
Father John Gribben is a sprightly 81 years old and can now claim to be top of his field after winning a gold medal at the British Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships.
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Known as the 'sprinting monk' among parishioners, he won the 400 metre dash in two minutes, three seconds and 190 milliseconds.
Gribben also secured bronze medals in the 60 metre and 200 metre events in London.
But it took him 70 long years to finally achieve running stardom, with Gribben's first attempt at the sport coming in the 1950s.
That didn't exactly go to plan, with octogenarian admitting he could barely stand up straight after a half-mile effort.
He told The Times: 'I nearly collapsed after that first run. I said, 'I'm not a runner', but I never stopped after it.'
Gribben started to master the art of running when he moved to Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 1979 — where he remains to this day.
And like any good athlete, Gribben dedicates himself to a gruelling mid-week training schedule.
He explained: 'Three nights at least of a 5km run, most days I'll do a 60 metre sprint, and then the other things are an hour at the local gym a couple of days a week.'
The Belfast native, who attended a theological college in Dublin, mainly gets his racing kicks at Greenhead Park's Parkrun in Huddersfield.
He's since completed over 250 events, boasting an impressive 5km Personal Best of 26 minutes.
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Gribben, who takes TWO buses to reach the course, started attending when he was nearly 70 years old.
He now runs 5km in around 40 minutes, and those Saturday morning slogs finally paid dividends when he clinched gold at the Masters.
Gribben also revealed the spiritual kick he gets from running, adding: 'There's something in the spring, you hit one point where it is ecstasy, you're outside yourself almost, when you hit that speed that carries you the last whatever you need to get to the line.
'Sometimes I just say to my saviour, 'Well I'll run if you run with me'.
'I don't know that I get an answer but… I start putting on my trainers and it feels good to do.'