A 61-year-old woman who can run nearly 50 miles in a week said she will overcome doubters who said she was “crazy” to take on the London Marathon for the first time.

Anne De Silva, of Church Lane, Merton Park, is on the final leg of a year-long training schedule to prepare for the annual 26-mile run through central London.

She now runs up to 48 miles each week with the help of her husband, a 69-year-old former national cycling champion in his native Sri Lanka.

The former HR director said she has always been "curious" about running a marathon and decided to take the plunge despite some people thinking it was a "crazy" thing to do at the age of 61.

She said: "It just seemed like the right moment. It was something that I was curious about and I thought let’s see if I can do it.

“I asked my husband whether it was a good idea and he said the only way to find out is by doing it."

As a former double bronze medallist and cyclist at the 1966 Asian Games, Mrs De Silva’s husband Trevor does have some experience in endurance training.

To this day he remains the only Sri Lankan cyclist to have won an international medal and was selected for the 1972 Olympics but instead came to the UK to train as an engineer.

He has been running his own fitness classes at the Malden Centre, New Malden, for the last 25 years. She explained: "He does the programme and I do what he tells me to. He’s done six marathons and the London marathon twice.

“In 1985 he did the London Marathon in two hours 37 minutes. He was really fast."

Mrs De Silva will be raising money for the paediatric liver department at Kings College Hospital in London. She added: "I’m doing it for myself because it’s something I can achieve and pit myself against, but it’s also quite nice to think I’m helping to raise money."

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