Buster Martin now aims to become the world's oldest marathon runner
 
Already Britain's oldest employee, 101-year-old Buster Martin now aims to become the world's oldest marathon runner by completing the London Marathon and celebrating with a pint¹ of beer and a cigarette.

Sprightly² and bearded, he completed a half marathon at the weekend in five hours 13 minutes. The former Army physical training instructor³ works three days a week for a London plumbing⁴ firm and says he has trained for the April 13th race in his spare time.

"I've said I'll attempt it," he told reporters by telephone from his workplace at Pimlico Plumbers⁵. "I haven't said I'll complete it. If I do make it, all the better. I hadn't thought of doing it before but someone asked me and the money goes to charity so why not?"

His sponsorship money will go to the Rhys Daniels Trust, which provides temporary accommodation for families of patients in specialist children's hospitals.

Martin, who had 17 children and returned to work at the age of 99 saying he was bored after two years of retirement⁶, would beat the previous record for world's oldest marathon runner by eight years.

"If I finish, I'll do what I always do and have a pint and a fag," he said. "People ask what is my secret but I haven't got one. They say fags and booze are bad for you -- but I'm still here, aren't I?"

 
英国年龄最大的雇员、101岁的巴斯特•马丁目前正在备战今年的伦敦马拉松赛，如果他能跑完全程，便将成为“世界上年龄最大的马拉松选手”，到时他又会喝杯啤酒、抽支烟来庆祝胜利了。

留着大胡子的马丁精力十足。他于上周末参加了一个“半程马拉松赛”，并以5小时13分钟跑完了全程。马丁曾是一名陆军体能训练师，现在他每周在伦敦一家管道公司工作三天，他说他主要利用业余时间备战4月13号的比赛。

马丁接受记者的电话采访时正在皮姆里克管道公司上班。他说：“我说过我要试试，但我没说会跑完全程。如果真的能跑完全程，那更好。本来我没想参赛，可有人让我去还说赞助金将捐给慈善机构，既然这样，何乐而不为呢？”

马丁所得的赞助费将捐给“里斯•丹尼尔斯信托基金会”，该基金专为儿童专科医院的病人家属提供短期食宿。

马丁有17个孩子。他说自己退休两年后觉得很无聊，所以在99岁那年又找了一份工作。马丁将挑战“世界上年龄最大的马拉松选手”的历史纪录，目前这一纪录保持者是一位93岁的老人。

他说：“如果我跑完全程，我还会像往常一样，喝杯啤酒抽根烟。人们问我长寿的秘诀是什么，我没什么秘诀。大家都说喝酒抽烟有害健康，可我这不是活得好好的吗？”

Vocabulary:

fag:香烟