VERNON Blowfield, who has died aged 97, was a war veteran, life vice president of Oxfordshire Athletics Association and founder of the Witney Roadrunners club who ran almost every day of his life.

Mr Blowfield inspired hundreds of people to take up running after founding the group in 1985 and continued to run into his late eighties.

In his younger years he competed for Great Britain in the unofficial wartime Olympics and after the war he came second in the English National Cross Country Championships in 1948 having led the field until the last couple of hundred yards.

Vernon Blowfield was born in Hammersmith, London on December 9, 1919 to parents Bert and Eleanor and grew up in west London with his younger brother Arthur.

At the age of 14 he met his future wife Elsie Cootes, 12 at the time, at church parades when they were members of the Scouts and Guides.

Ahead of their 70th wedding anniversary in 2010, Mrs Blowfield said that as children they "used to just stand and talk and then we would to Hyde Park and the Serpentine."

They both left school at 14 to go into the working world and married in North Kensington in August 1940, when Mrs Blowfield was 18 and Mr Blowfield was 20.

They had three children, Dawn, Christine and Kevin.

After just a few years of marriage, though, he joined the RAF and the childhood sweethearts would not see each other for three years.

Serving in India for part of the Second World War he competed in the 'unofficial Olympics' in Bengal in 1943/44 - as the scheduled London Olympics had been cancelled various Olympic games were arranged at locations around the world.

After the war they were re-united but Mr Blowfield stayed on at the RAF as a physical training instructor before working as an aircraft fitter at a small aerodrome near Northolt.

In 1952 the couple moved to Witney where Mr Blowfield worked for Smiths Industries, a manufacturer of aeronautical and automotive instruments, until he retired 30 years later.

They were the first occupiers of the new houses on Smiths Estate, which still exists today, built on the site of the business.

He ran every day and alongside his son Kevin spearheaded a fledgling Smiths Running Club and when Witney Roadrunners formed in 1985 he was one of three founders in the inaugural meeting at The Court Inn.

With a huge bank of experience and knowledge he supported many novice runners joining the 'running boom' in Oxfordshire after the first London Marathon in 1981.

Continuing to run well into his eighties he was made the first and only life president of Witney Roadrunners and vice life president of Oxfordshire Athletics Association.

He died of natural causes at his home in Witney on February 26, aged 97.

He is survived by his wife Elsie, two daughters Dawn and Christine, son Kevin and an extensive family, many of whom were inspired by him to take up running.

His funeral will take place tomorrow at St Mary's Church in Witney.