A park run has been organised by Bryn Bach running club to celebrate the world record of a Tredegar marathon runner.

Steve Jones, who has held the British marathon record for 30 years, won the Chicago Marathon with a world record time of 2.08.05 on October 21, 1984.

The race featured the Olympic champion, Carlos Lopes, and the world champion, Rob de Castella , but Mr Jones still smashed the record by 13 seconds. Remarkably, he was not even wearing a watch.

Nearly 30 years on, Mr Jones, 59, lives in Boulder, Colorado and Bryn Bach running club are keen to keep his historic achievements in the public eye.

Lee Aherne, 48, who has helped organise the event, said: “Steve is quite shy and humble, but he’s an athletics legend. I’ve no idea why he hasn’t had any real recognition.

“I’d estimate that 50,000 people in Britain do a marathon every year and they would love to claim the record. If you multiply that number by 30, you soon realise the scale of Steve’s achievement. He needs recognition."

Having been a member of the RAF’s running team for eight years, Mr Jones was invited to participate in the 1983 Chicago Marathon but had to drop out because of an injury.

Returning a year later, Mr Jones did not even realise that he was going to break the world record until he was told two miles from the finish.

Mr Aherne said that the achievement was made all the more impressive given the lack of funding in British athletics at the time.

He added: “The RAF team really prepared him and he trained hard. Mo Farah trains in Kenya for several months and only does a handful of races every year. Steve raced 40 times in a calendar year - he was a racing machine.”

The park run takes place at 9am on Saturday October 18 and runners of all abilities are welcome. Steve Jones’ sisters, Kathleen Jervis and Christine Hopes, will be in attendance.