100-year-old Fauja Singh, world's oldest marathoner

October 17, 2011 3:20 PM

100-year-old Fauja Singh sets world record: Oldest runner to complete a marathon

BY Lauren Johnston

Sometimes we need a mantra to press forward through the marathon agony.
If you're looking for one, may I suggest you repeat the words "Fauja Singh. Fauja Singh," the name of a 100-year-old man who on Sunday became the world's oldest runner to complete a marathon.
[VIDEO OF SINGH'S FINISH BELOW]
October has already yielded some amazing feats in running: a woman ran the Chicago marathon while nine months pregnant the gave birth immediately after and athletes set insane records at this year's Kona Ironman.
And now Singh, nicknamed the "Turbaned Torpedo" has made history with his amazing 26.2.
Singh ran the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday and earned a spot in the Guinness World Book of Records after he crossed the finish line last of the pack (3845th) with a time of 8:25:16. [RESULTS] (AP/PHOTO)
Singh had hoped to finish the race in about nine hours and was ecstatic to crush his pace goal, his coach said.
"Beating his original prediction, he's overjoyed," his coach and translator Harmander Singh told the Associated Press. "Earlier, just before we came around the [final] corner, he said, 'Achieving this will be like getting married again.'"
Singh, who hails from London, speaks only Punjabi and issued statements through his coach.
The Toronto race marked Singh's eighth marathon. He ran his first when he was 89, an age at which most runners have been long since retired.
Sunday's race was not the first time Singh set a a record in Toronto- in 2003, he ran the course in 5:40:01 setting a record in the age 90 and over category.
The five-foot-eight, 115-pounds endurance sport wonder attributes his physical fitness and longevity to abstaining from smoking or alcohol and to following a vegetarian diet.
Singh, a British citizen, is not planning on slowing down after setting his latest world record and in fact already has his eye on his next great feat: He will participate in the torch relay at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London.