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| The centenarian marathoner days before the event. http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2011/10/14/1226166/578018-fauja-singh.jpg |
A 100-year-old man became the first centenarian to complete a marathon when he finished the 42-kilometer event in Toronto on Sunday.
Fauja Singh, a British citizen who was born in India, completed the run just before 6pm local time in eight hours, 11 minutes and 5.9 seconds, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
It was Singh's eighth marathon. He set a record in the 90-plus age category in 2003 -- also in the Toronto marathon -- finishing in five hours, 40 minutes and one second.
However, this year's event was marred by the death of a 27-year-old man who collapsed just 300 metres from the finish line.
The man was taken from the course about 11:15am and transported to a hospital, where he later died.
Police did not confirm if the man was competing in the marathon, half-marathon or five-kilometre run being held Sunday, but the Canadian Press reported that it appeared he suffered a heart attack while running the half-marathon.
About 22,000 people participated in the three races and the marathon was won by Kenneth Mungara of Kenya in a time of two hours, nine minutes and 51 seconds.
Meanwhile, Singh, who was the last runner to complete the course, said he was overjoyed at his achievement.
"Beating his original prediction, he's overjoyed," his coach and translator Harmander Singh said.
"Earlier, just before we came around the (final) corner, he said, 'Achieving this will be like getting married again.'
"He's absolutely overjoyed, he's achieved his life-long wish."
The coach said his runner had been aiming for a time of about nine hours.
While in Toronto, Fauja Singh on Thursday broke world records for runners older than 100 in eight different distances ranging from 100 metres to 5,000 metres.
Singh, who speaks only Punjabi, was born on a farm in India in April 1911 and is 172cm and weighs just 52kg.
He has said previously that part of his secret is that he eats a light vegetarian diet of mainly tea, toast and curry.
Singh took up running about 20 years ago after losing his wife and child in tragic circumstances.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Mungara won the Toronto marathon for the fourth straight year.
The Kenyan finished with a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 51 seconds. Ethiopia’s Shami Abdulahi Dawit was second, while Reid Coolsaet narrowly missed the Canadian record en route to finishing third.
The 32-year-old from Hamilton finished in 2:10:55, missing the mark of 2:10.09 set by Jerome Drayton in 1975.
Drayton’s 36-year-old record is the oldest on the Canadian track and field record books.
Both Coolsaet and Gillis qualified for the London Olympic marathon.
100-year-old completes Toronto marathon; Mungara wins fourth straight
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Wow! A centenarian got to finish a marathon! such is the human spirit. He is truly an inspiration for us runners. If he can finish a marathon, why can't we? Mungara was an inspiration, too. He has won the Toronto Marathon for the fourth time. These were great news after the weird things that happened in the running world last week.
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