In 1951, Nils Gustaf Håkansson signed up for the Sverigeloppet endurance race traversing virtually the entire length of Sweden – he was 66. He rode 600 miles to get to the starting line

Håkansson was there on race day in the saddle complete with mudguards, a headlamp, front basket and panniers. He wore a homemade bib with the number 0 on it.

After three days and only five hours' sleep, Gustaf was leading the field by more than 120 miles.

Due to the volume of racers, Håkansson crossed the starting line about 20 seconds after the race had started, but five days, five hours and 1,000 miles later, he crossed the finish line first – more than a day ahead of the next rider.

Eventually, with only 800 yards or so to go, Håkansson or "Steel Grandpa"; as he became known in the villages he'd passed through, came to an abrupt halt. But it wasn't sheer exhaustion that had stopped him – the old man's bicycle had suffered its first and only flat tyre.

Despite the albeit unofficial victory, a subsequent audience with the king of Sweden, and generally being showered in fame and honour, Håkansson's greatest satisfaction came from proving wrong the doctors who had thought he was better suited in a rocking chair than he was in a saddle.

The Steel Grandpa continued to ride bicycles until his death in 1987 at the age of 102

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