Keen runner Archie Fox has a big few weeks coming up.

The 32-year-old Severn Athletic Club member will represent Gloucestershire for the first time when he competes in the UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships at Wollaton Park in Nottingham tomorrow.

Fifteen days later he’ll be lining up for the ever-popular Gloucester Half Marathon and then at the end of April he’ll run in the London Marathon for the first time.

The one-time St Peter’s School pupil, who lives in Saintbridge, has made great strides since joining Severn AC in October 2021.

“That’s when I started running properly,” he said.

“Before that I’d run a bit just for fitness but I’ve come on in leaps and bounds since joining Severn.”

Last year was a big year for him because he set a number of PBs and also ran his first marathon.

The marathon was at Stratford-upon-Avon and he clocked an impressive two hours, 44 minutes, 18 seconds.

That run has given him plenty of confidence ahead of the London Marathon on Sunday 26^th April even though it will be only the second time he has raced 26.2 miles.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “Everyone says it’s the one to do. Ideally I’ll go a bit faster than at Stratford. A low 2.40s would be nice.”

And he’d like to run a sub 74 minutes in the Gloucester Half.

“I ran it last year in 1.14.28. It was nice to break 75 minutes,” he said. “At the time it was my best for the distance.”

He subsequently ran 1.14.18 in the Cheltenham Half in September when he finished 14^th and that followed PBs in the 5K – 15.59 at Heddington in Wiltshire in August – and the 10K, when he recorded 33.37 at Frampton-on-Severn in June.

His success is all the more impressive because it has happened so quickly.

He finished second in the Jenner Jog 10K at Berkeley on Saturday behind Western Tempo’s Alex Jones in 34.55 and he said: “I’m happy that I found running in my late 20s. Would I love it as much as I do now if I’d have started earlier?

“I want to keep going for as long as I can. I’m still improving. I want to keep trying to better my times.”

Fox, who is married to Ellie, got involved in Severn AC through family friend Alex Hope, who was one of the founding members of the club in the 1990s.

“I’m best mates with his son Ben, he’s the club’s vice-chairman,” explained Fox. “There are a lot of good people at the club and a lot of good runners. It’s a good place to be.”

And the club will certainly be hoping Fox can go well at Nottingham tomorrow.

“It will be cool to wear a Gloucestershire vest for the first time,” he said.