Te Puke marathon man Richard Sandy walking for two good causes

At 74 years old, Te Puke's Richard Sandy will tackle his first marathon.

Forty years ago, Richard Sandy was preparing to run the London marathon.

He never did. In fact, he has never tackled the distance. But, alert levels permitting, that will change on September 26.

At 74, Richard will line up at the start of the 2020 Rotorua Marathon - providing the country is back at alert level 1.

''When I was in the UK I was doing about 10 miles in 70 minutes which I thought was okay,'' he says. ''But then I had trouble with my Achilles, so I had to pack up the running and that was the end of that, really.''

Now living in Te Puke, Richard will walk the 42.2km course around Lake Rotorua. It is all in the name of charity and he aims to raise money for the Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade and Te Puke St John's health shuttle, where he is a volunteer driver.

Richard has been in New Zealand for eight years.

''It was when I came to live in Te Puke about three years ago I decided I wanted to do something in the community and that's why I used to joke, this is why the Government adopted me.''

He was a member of the now-defunct Te Puke Community Patrols and still does some patrolling with the Night Owls, as well as the health shuttle driving.

''[Last year] I started doing a bit of walking. Then something cropped up about a marathon and I thought, 'I wonder? I wonder how far I can get?' So I started doing a bit more and a bit more.''

Then he fell down a hole at the golf course.

''I damaged my tendons so went to the physio and he put it right and so then I started walking again.''

He was up to 25km a time by Christmas and tried his first 30km walk just afterwards.

His preparation was tracking nicely when the marathon was postponed from its original date in May.

''I went up to 35k and did a lot of 20k and 10k walks - I was mixing it up and I thought, this marathon is still going to happen, even with the virus pushing it back to September."

Richard says he has always participated in sport and has always been fit.

He has played football, cricket and basketball and now plays lawn bowls and golf.

He says the two causes he is collecting for are worthy recipients.

''A lot of people don't know what the health shuttle does - even people who live in Te Puke,'' he says.

''I explain to them it's for people needing to get to medical appointments - not just hospital - health centres, the dentist, workshops for those who have had strokes, anything.''

The service covers the wider Te Puke area and Pāpāmoa East.

''And the fire service - they are always there and all the mechanical things they have need to be kept on the road and that all costs money.''

Richard is looking for as many people as he can get to sponsor him on his efforts.

''They are local charities so, hopefully, people will be prepared to give something.''

Richard has incorporated No 1 Rd into his walks and he hopes the steady climb will help when it comes to the hill at the back of the lake on the marathon course.

Rotorua Marathon organisers have stated the marathon will only go ahead if alert level 1 rules apply in Rotorua by the staging date. They will make a decision after the Government's next alert level announcement on September 14.

Anyone wanting to sponsor Richard can email him at richardesandy@hotmail.co.uk or deposit their donation into the account he has set up especially for his fundraising - 06-0556-0062389-01.