A man who has competed in every single ABP Southampton Marathon is keeping his streak alive, running again this year as the event celebrates its tenth anniversary.

Andy Cross, 50, has battled through injuries to make sure he is fit to run a half-marathon for the city-wide event every year.

After running the ten-mile Great South Run in 2005 and 2009, he thought he would give the local event, which was brand new at the time, a good go.

“When the ABP Southampton started in 2015, I thought I’d give it a go,” he said.

“I did that with a friend of mine and loved it, it was local and I could cycle down to the start. I love the atmosphere, loved running through my home town,

“The opportunity to go through the Saints stadium was great, I’m a Saints fan so I definitely enjoyed that.”

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Andy has run every single ABP Southampton Marathon since it started in 2015.

He explained that he has been “lucky to dodge injuries” to keep his streak going, but two years ago there was a moment where he thought he might not be able to get to the finish line.

“I was running up the Itchen Bridge, which is brutal, a quarter of a mile running up hill,” he said.

“My calf was giving me a bit of trouble and it went on my coming down the other side of the bridge on mile four.

“I knew I had nine miles to hobble round, but I wanted to do it to say I kept the streak going, so I made sure I could do it.”

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Andy said that he runs the event every year because he loves the community spirit it brings to the city, explaining that he enjoys getting out to train and keep fit every Spring.

His family always comes to cheer him on, which he said gives him even more motivation.

“I’m going to be 50 this year so I’m not going to be keeping up with the whippersnappers,” he explained.

“You drop your bag off in the Guildhall and I remember seeing guys from Southampton tri club, people I see at park run every Saturday, it’s just a wonderful feeling of running with like-minded people.

“You get your fast runners at the front, but you get like-minded people and see everyone at the end.”