Although not recognized by Guinness because he lacks a proper birth certificate, the world’s oldest marathoner is hanging up his running shoes now that he’s completed his final race at the astonishing age of 101-years-old.
Fauja Singh recently completed the 10 km race at the Hong Kong marathon in a time of one hour, 32 minutes and 28 seconds. Singh became the oldest person to complete a full marathon when he finished the Toronto marathon back in 2011, but was not officially recognized because of the aforementioned birth certificate snafu.
The great-grandfather, who took up running in 1994 after the deaths of his wife and son, and who finished his first full marathon in 2000 at the age of 89, figures now is the time to step away from the marathon game. The man known as the Turbaned Torpedo went on to finish eight more of the 26-mile races, with his best time coming in 2003 in Toronto.
Said Singh (via The Globe and Mail)…
“I am feeling a bit of happiness and a bit of sadness mixed together. I am happy that I am retiring at the top of the game but I am sad that the time has come for me to not be part of it,” Singh said in a pre-race interview. “And there will always be times in the future where I will be thinking, ‘Well, I used to do that (running),” the Punjabi-speaking Singh said through his coach and interpreter, Harmander Singh.
“From a tragedy has come a lot of success and happiness.”
Picks up marathon running at 83-years-old young, finishes nine of the 26-mile races, and retires at the age of 101. Anything you’ve done with your life is now rendered invalid and useless.
