Long before there were online workouts, Ironman races, or ultra running events - there was ‘Tenby’ Davies.

And yesterday (Monday) he would have been celebrating his, well, 136th birthday.

Born in South Parade in 1884, Frederick Charles Davies would go on to be one of the greatest Welsh runners of his generation. He was nicknamed ‘Tenby’ after his birth town – a tradition that to this day, is bestowed on other family members.

In those days, the standard distance for elite races differed considerably to now. Davies famously won the World 880 Yards (half mile) Championship at Pontypridd in 1909, clocking a time of 1:57 to fend off one of his fiercest rivals in Irish runner Beauchamp R. Day. The winning time also proved to be one of the fastest recorded in the World that year.

And yes, back then it was done in yards not metres.

Davies also won events throughout Britain at distances ranging from 100 yards up to a mile, and competed regularly in the Welsh Powderhall 130 Yards Handicap Sprints at Taff Vale Park.

In 1911 he married Pembrokeshire girl Agnes Ferguson at the parish church of St Mary the Virgin in Tenby, and shortly before World War 1 moved to Carmarthen. A builder by trade, he helped construct the original mart wall there where the Debenhams store is now located.

He and Agnes had three children together and although Davies would die aged 48, his legacy remains alive to this day.

His brother was the great grandfather of Michael King, the Scarlets Regional Rugby Coordinator whose work consists of frequent visits to clubs and schools in Pembrokeshire.

“Both him and my great grandfather were Pembrokeshire boys and ‘Tenby’ has always been our family nickname,” he told Telegraph Sport.

What Davies would have made of the modern day scene in endurance events - the big crowds, the advanced equipment, the scientific elements – is anyone’s guess.

But it speaks volumes that more than a century on from his finest hour, ‘Tenby’ still ranks among the greatest ever Welsh runners.