AT AN age when most are heading for the recliner, 80-year-old marathon runner Bob Wray is hitting the road.

Before his “knees gives out” Wray, of Athelstone, will run the London Marathon this month.

It will be a dream realised after a decade of fruitless applications — he’s one of the lucky 40,000 plucked from a pool of more than 300,000 this time.

He said this will be his ninth — and first overseas — marathon, and his motivation remains simple.

“I just refuse to give into old age,” Wray says.

“You see people who are still in their late 60s and early 70s and have given up on life, I’m determined to not allow that to happen to me.

“My daughter thinks I’m mad (laughs).

“I found out there’s an 83-year-old running as well (in London).

“I’m usually first in my age group (at marathons), as I’m the only one in my age group.”

He has been putting in the hard yards, up 80km a week either on a treadmill down at The ARC — which he says is “very boring” — or on the footpath on cooler nights.

Wray, who still referees competitive junior soccer, says he was first inspired to run long distances at age 44 by a former umpiring coach in Hobart.

“To the point where 10km was a jog in the park,” he says.

“I really enjoyed the euphoria of being able to forget the world ... it’s also good for concentrating on and resolving problems.

“My body is in good shape, the odd ache and pain like a person my age gets, but I can live with that.”

Wray’s last full marathon was in Melbourne in 2016.

He ran in the Adelaide half marathon last year but pulled a hamstring.

“I got to about the 10km mark and I felt it go,” he says. “It took me three months to get over it, things take a long time to heal at my age.”

Wray has committed to raising $6000 for UK charity CLIC-Sargent, which helps children and their families deal with the trauma of being diagnosed with cancer.