The runner who holds the 34-year-old record for the fastest marathon run in Bermuda has died.

England’s Andy Holden, who won the Bermuda International Marathon in 1979, 1980 and 1981, died at the weekend, aged 65.

His 1980 marathon winning time of two hours, 15 minutes and 20 seconds has never been surpassed, despite $10,000 being offered as a bonus for anyone who manages the feat.

Paying tribute last night, Peter Lever described Holden as a “ferocious competitor”. Lever, a member of the Bermuda Marathon Weekend race committee, met Holden during his three visits to the Island.

Holden competed internationally for Great Britain in the 3,000?metres steeplechase at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He also ran in the Commonwealth Games and European Championships and was regarded as a “hard man” of British athletics because of his tough approach to training and racing.

When Holden came to Bermuda in 1979, he was part of a UK group that included Charlie Spedding, who went on to win a bronze medal in the 1984 Olympic marathon.

In 1979, Holden was in the middle of a 200-day training regime that consisted of simply running 15 miles each and every day.

The training paid off because he won the marathon despite runners facing gale-force winds as they crossed the Causeway from St George’s en route to Hamilton. Holden beat Ian Thompson, then the Commonwealth Games champion, winning in a time of 2:18:50.

Remarkably, Holden achieved his victory despite an evening of drinking the night before. Exactly what happened is now part of local road-racing folklore.

Holden was staying with Island residents Pam and John Cash in Southampton and went to the nearby Henry VIII Restaurant and Pub the evening before the race. Lever recalls how Holden drank ten pints of lager. “I know because I bought them,” he said.

Holden, however, was not so sure. In an interview with The Royal Gazette in 2007, he said he sank “quite a few” pints but noted that a buddy who was with him drank so much that he ended up ordering two suppers because he could not remember eating the first one.

One thing that Holden clearly remembered was how happy he was to be in Bermuda. “The winter of 1978-79 was very cold in England,” he said. “The only time I didn’t run in snow from Boxing Day to March was the two weeks I stayed in Bermuda.”

Holden set his record time the next year. His rivals were unable to stay with him as he pushed the pace during the last 15 miles to claim another stunning marathon victory.

He returned in 1981 to complete a hat-trick of victories, this time running Bermuda’s second-fastest marathon time of 2:16:57.

On hearing that a $10,000 bonus was being offered as an incentive for anyone who might break his Bermuda marathon record, Holden in 2007 reflected on his own reward for setting the record time.

“In 1980, I got an adidas tracksuit for winning,” he said. “Ironically, at the time I was sponsored by Nike, so I gave the tracksuit away.”

Holden lived in the West Midlands in England. He ran for the Tipton Harriers running club and continued to act as a club coach after his running career ended. Reacting to the news of Holden’s death, Ron Bentley, Tipton Harriers’ club president, said: “He is the greatest club man Tipton has ever seen.”

The Bermuda Marathon Weekend takes place between from January 17 to 19.