Bryn Griffiths is no stranger to physical training. As a teenager and young man, he was a boxer and competed in the 1974 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand.

Whilst he didn’t win a medal that year, the following year he beat the gold medallist, David Lamour, in a re-match at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.

“Boxing taught me about not giving in,” he said. “When you’re tired on the pads with the trainer, they push you even more because in the last round, you need that extra bit of energy to sway the fight. Running a marathon is like that.”

Bryn went on to become a professional boxer, which took him all over the UK, including a fight in 1977 against the future World Flyweight champion Charlie Magri.

All the while, alongside his boxing career, Bryn was training to be a nurse. 

“I used to ask to take weekends off to go and fight, but they thought I was telling fibs. That fight with Charlie in Bethnal Green in London was televised. When they saw it, they finally believed me.”

When Bryn’s boxing career came to an end, he was looking for another physical challenge. He said marathon running was an obvious choice. 

Bryn started out running the Cardiff marathon, but he soon had his sights set on the London. 

His first London marathon was with his local athletic club back in 1990, but he knew that running for a charity would help him enter the competition in subsequent years.

He said running for Tenovus Cancer Care seemed the right choice.

Bryn calls Nesta his ‘corner man’. She makes food for him, has all his kit ready, and every time he runs, she’s there cheering him past the finish line.

Alongside Nesta, Bryn has been cheered over the line by Irish boyband singer Ronan Keating one year, and Richard Branson another. 

The last time Nesta saw him pass the finish line in London was in 2019. A month later Bryn was to face a health challenge of his own. In the May, Bryn started to experience a pain in his back, quite near where his kidneys are. His mother had suffered from kidney problems, and he thought he might have inherited the same problem. He promptly got it checked out. Whilst his kidneys were fine, an enlarged prostate was spotted.

Over the following months Bryn was monitored. In the spring of 2022, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He started a course of radiotherapy treatment, which ended last November.

Bryn is planning to start his training in earnest later this year. 

“I’m always running. I’m always fit. But in September, I’ll ramp up my training regime, and start training twice a day - running and going to the gym. I’ll build up the mileage over time. I know what to do and I know how to listen to my body. That’s what boxing gave me.”

Bryn plans to collect money the way he always has done over the years - with a pen and paper. He has several loyal supporters in his community who collect on his behalf and he’s no stranger to going around the streets and knocking on doors. 

Support Bryn to reach his fundraising target here.