And , he might have added , with the kind of uncluttered approach Jones brought to his own running , as a raw , heart-on-the-sleeve Alf Tupper type -- a steelworker 's son whose racing philosophy was " always to devastate the opposition , " who was fuelled by Coke , Mars bars and meat pies when he broke the world marathon record in Chicago and by 10 pints of cider ( the night before ) when he clocked a world half marathon record of 61min 14sec in Birmingham the same year .