Georgia Francis: My granddad William McKim, Olympian, marathoner and adventurer

Georgia Francis' granddad William, or Bill, McKim represented Great Britain in the 1,500m at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.
But his fourth placed finish in the heats - narrowly missing out on a place in the finals despite suffering from an illness which should have prevented him competing - doesn't tell his full story.
Not long after the event he beat eventual winner Peter Snell of New Zealand, and a year later he ran a sub-four minute mile - just seven years after Sir Roger Bannister had done so for the first time.
He went on to repeat the feat a year later, before turning his attention to marathons and completing the New York event in two hours 35 minutes.
In later life, Bill went on to climb Everest twice and hike the Inca Trail - something Georgia repeated years later, standing on the same spot he did to overlook Machu Picchu and making an emotional call to him back in England.
Bill has since sadly passed away, but in this episode we talk to Georgia about how he was always destined to be a runner and why he nearly didn't got to Tokyo at all...
 
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Click here to listen to William McKim talking to BBC Radio Northampton in 2021
 
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