Sri Lankan Olympic marathon runner gunning for gold by running to work and eating pasties

 

Anuradha Cooray, a marathon runner and full-time employee of Greggs The Bakers in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, has revealed the secret to his Olympic success story: a daily pasty fix, the Daily Mail reported.

The Sri Lankan father of two, known to his friends as Cooray, trains for his marathon dash by running 17 miles to and from work every day, and eating a pasty when he gets there.

The 34-year-old runner, who has 18-month-old twins, said: 'I have a pasty a day. I enjoy the breakfast rolls from Greggs and also the baguettes, in particular the chicken baguettes.'

Mr Cooray works as a Retail Team Member in the Aylesbury branch of the baker's, serving customers, making sandwiches and baking savoury pasties.
 

As a marathon runner he must consume between 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day, and chooses to do most of his eating while at work.

He admits to loving Greggs food, confessing that he eats food from his workplace three times a day: a bacon bacon breakfast roll for breakfast, a Mexican chicken baguette for lunch, and either a chicken curry pasty or a 'spicy one' pasty for dinner, as part of his daily calorie intake.

Mr Cooray told MailOnline: 'The pasties definitely help me train. I can't eat enough.

'I'm from Sri Lanka and I love spicy food - the chicken curry pasty and the 'spicy one' are perfect for me.'

To assist him with his training, the runner's employers gave him four weeks of special paid leave, to enable him to take his training up to over 90 miles a week.

Mr Cooray won gold medal at the South Asian Games in Pakistan in 2004 with a personal best of 2hrs 16mins.

Heautomatically qualified for the Olympics in April when he finished the London Marathon within 10 seconds of the qualifying standard.

He was the third Brit to finish the race, and was overall placed 22nd.

Pix courtesy - Daily Mail