He came to the sport late in life and now plans to celebrate his 60th birthday taking part in the Bermuda Marathon Weekend.

Saturday is William Sherman’s birthday but one gets the feeling he will not be out that night painting the town red. Instead he will be on the marathon start line on Sunday morning.

“I had a heart attack when I was 50,” he said. “I started running in rehab on the treadmill and never stopped. When I was 54 I started running races. From that point on I was hooked. I’ve run nine marathons including Boston in 2013 and one ultra. Some people like golf or tennis. I think of running as my golf or tennis.”

He is a member of Griffin’s Friends, a home-grown organisation focused on helping children in cancer treatment

“The idea is to raise money in which to provide these children and their families some relief, moments of joy.

“We fundraise through our annual marathon challenge, benefit dinners, golf tournaments, and comedy shows. Unlike larger charities our marathon challenge gives us an intimate connection with our cause. We know the children and their families. We play with them and they run with us if they can. Several of our members were once in treatment themselves and now are giving back.”

Although Sherman will be coming to Bermuda with only his wife, he said Griffin’s Friends take part in training runs every Sunday morning in the winter. “We can have anywhere from 50 to 150 runners on a Sunday. Our fundraising marathon is called the Marathon of Champions in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and we’ll get around 150 runners for that. We also run smaller races.”

He is looking forward to running in Bermuda.

“Neither my wife or I have been to Bermuda before but we’ve only heard good things and we are excited. This fall I ran a marathon at Niagara Falls. My wife asked if there were any marathons in warm places like the Caribbean. I told her you don’t really want warm weather to run a marathon, but I’ll look. I found the Bermuda Triangle Challenge in Cool Running.

“I really wasn’t planning on running another marathon so soon but Bermuda weather in January seemed perfect — to me anyway.”

He runs 5K, 10K and half-marathons as part of his marathon training schedule.

“There is a great sense of accomplishment that comes over me when I cross the marathon finish line and I can’t get enough of that feeling. But mostly I run because I can. Anything can happen. I know I could be a slip or accident away from being unable to run again. I’m going to get it all in while I can,” he said, adding that while his wife is not a runner “she has been a great supporter and a good sport. I spend a lot of my free time running. We try to make races into getaway weekends when we can. I’m trying to talk her into the 10K walk.”