A FORMER Olympic hurdler and Farnham resident celebrated his 80th birthday recently by running the wrong way up an Elphicks escalator to prove that he still has what it takes. The bizarre stunt was condemned by staff of the department store, who claim his actions were "extremely dangerous", but Peter Hildreth is happy that he can still do something that he used to enjoy in his prime. "I recalled that as a young man living in London, I used to run up the down escalators on the Underground for no other reason than my own personal amusement. Well, I just wanted to see if I could still do it now that I'm 80." Mr Hildreth represented Britain in the 110-yard hurdles in the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics before becoming a sports journalist for the Sunday Telegraph. He explained how he experimented a bit before taking the plunge and attempting to make it to the top. "What I didn't realise was that the most difficult bit is getting your feet onto the escalator in the first place while it is moving towards you. I was lucky enough to get that right first time and I've been doing it once a week for the last six weeks or so but the people in Elphicks are not too happy with me." Mr Hildreth told the management of the store that it was because of the cups of tea and cake that he had been enjoying in the restaurant that he was able to have the energy to attempt the feat. "I said that it was all down to their excellent refreshments as I regularly go to the restaurant, but they've said 'no' and so I must respect that. I'll probably have a go at the Marks and Spencer in Guildford but that one is quite a lot longer." Graham Duerden, operations director at Elphicks department store, told The Herald that Mr Hildreth's actions were setting a bad example to others and that anyone caught doing it could face a ban from the store. "We have people aged 80 who go the right way up the escalators and fall over so we simply can't have this man attempting this sort of thing," he explained. "I was aware that he was doing this and we told him that if he continues then he will be banned so now he has stopped I believe. We would not encourage anyone to do this anywhere because it is extremely dangerous and we'll get kids doing it if they see him, which is something we really want to avoid. Anyone who tries to do this in Elphicks will be banned from entering the store again."