It’s never too late to improve your health and fitness. You need look no further than Fauja Singh as an example who at 100 years old is the oldest Marathoner in the world.The great – great – grandfather’s running career started through tragedy when he took up running as a way to overcome grief when his wife and son died in quick succession in India.
Fauja moved to London to live with his youngest son and it was here that he met Sikh Marathon runners who encouraged him to take up distance running. It was during this time he saw a Marathon on the television and decided that he would enter the next one and do it for charity. At the time when his cohorts were sipping tea and clamoring about the degradation in politics at home or a retirement home, Fauja was building his stamina to give young guns a tough completion in the upcoming marathon.
“ITS NOT EASY TO RUN A MARATHON. I KNOW ITS GOING TO BE PAINFUL, BUT MY AIM IS TO FINISH IT.”
His first charity was for premature babies and he would bill himself as the oldest person running for the youngest. In 2000, aged 89 he entered and completed his first London Marathon. At this juncture, several thought the Sikh Marathoner would choose to quit and opt for a comfortable life at one of the retirement homes in India, but the destiny had other plans.
Over the following years he would go on to complete a further 4 London Marathons, 1 New York Marathon, and 2 Toronto Marathons, donating all proceeds to charity.
In the 2011 Toronto Marathon he became the world’s oldest Marathon runner at 100 years old and he would also feature in the “Impossible Is Nothing” Adidas commercial and be a torch bearer for The London 2012 Olympic Games. Fauja would say:
“FROM TRAGEDY HAS COME A LOT OF SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS.”
At 101 years old Fauja Singh decided to retire from competitive long distance running finishing the Hong Kong Marathon 10km race two months shy of his 102 birthday. He would say:
“I’AM FEELING A BIT OF HAPPINESS AND A BIT OF SADNESS MIXED TOGTHER. I’AM HAPPY THAT I’AM RETIRING AT THE TOP OF MY GAME BUT I’AM SAD THAT THE TIME HAS COME FOR ME NOT TO BE A PART OF IT. I WILL REMEBER THIS DAY AND I WILL MISS IT, BUT I WON’T STOP RUNNING FOR CHARITY.”
We salute the legend and wish many more elderly people can be as fit & healthy as Fauja Singh
