Hill, who competed for England and Britain, is remembered as one of the best distance runners of the 1960s and 1970s - having also won the marathon gold medal at the 1969 European Championships in Athens, before winning bronze two years later in Helsinki.

Hill also founded Ron Hill Sports - now Ronhill - a clothing company for athletes which specialised in synthetic materials.

He pioneered products such as wrap-over shorts, mesh vests, waterproof running jackets and reflective stripes.

Although Hill sold the company following financial difficulties in the early 1990s, Ronhill is still a prominent sporting brand, particularly in the United Kingdom.

Hill ran at three Olympics - including in the marathons at Tokyo 1964 and Munich 1972.

At Mexico City 1968, Hill placed seventh in the 10,000 metres.

At Tokyo 1964, he finished 18th in the 10,000m and 19th in the marathon. 

In his final Games, Hill finished sixth in Munich.

Although best known for his marathon, Hill broke world records in three other distances.

He held the 10-mile world record after running 46min 44sec in Leicester in November 1968, 15-mile world record after running 1 hour 12min 48.2sec in Bolton in July 1965, and the 25 kilometres world record after posting 1:15.22.6 at the same event.

At the 1970 Commonwealth Games Hill finished in a time of 2:09.28, making him the second person to run under 2:10:00.

In his first 10km of the race, Hill was running at 2:04:00 pace which was described as "suicidal" by commentators.

Hill regarded his run as a world record, although it was not recognised as such due to Australian runner Derek Clayton's 2:08.33 in Antwerp the previous year.

However, Clayton's run is still disputed as it has been claimed it was set on a short course, which was not remeasured.

Despite this it was recognised as the world record for more than 12 years.

Hill also achieved a stunning feat of completing a run every day from December 20 1964 to January 29 2017 - a total of 52 years and 39 days.

He defined a run as completing a distance of at least one mile at any pace.

Hill kept this streak going despite a car crash in 1993 that saw him brake his sternum, and after bunion surgery, when he used a crutch to complete one mile.

Due to ill health, Hill "took the day off" on January 30 2017, saying chest pains during the run the day before left him believing he was "going to die".

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe joined the tributes to Hill.

"Ron Hill turned the art of marathon running into a science and wrote the playbook for generations to come," Coe said.

"He was a one-off.

"His contribution to the classic distance is immense."