Marathon: Oldest participant ever!

The name "Fauja Singh" will be familiar to many marathon fans.

This is because he is the first person to successfully complete a marathon at the age of over 100. He managed to do this in Toronto in 2011.

How old is the oldest marathon runner of all time?

Fauja Singh ran a time of 8:25:16 hours at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2011. At that time, the Indian-born Briton was 100 years old. Never before had a person run a marathon at such an advanced age. However, Singh's record is disputed. Since Singh does not have a valid birth certificate, it cannot be proven one hundred percent whether he was actually born in 1911.

A curious aspect of Fauja Singh's marathon career is that he did not become a runner until he was 70 years old. He did not even run his first marathon until 2000, when he was 89 years old. In 2003, he only needed 5:40:04 hours at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, which is equivalent to a marathon world record in the over-90 category. It is also his marathon best time.

In 2010, Fauja Singh also became the oldest half marathon finisher in Luxembourg at the age of 99. He covered the 21.1 kilometers at the Night Marathon Luxembourg in 3:32:30 hours. He competed in his last running event in 2013.

Jonathan Mendes also impressed at the New York City Marathon in 2016. At the time, he jogged the 42.195 kilometers in 11:20 hours at the age of 96.

The oldest female marathon runner of all time

In the women's category, Harriette Thompson became the oldest marathon runner of all time at the San Diego Marathon in 2015. At that time, she managed a time of 7:24:36 at 92 years and 93 days. At the time, it was her 16th participation in the San Diego Marathon.

In her running career, Thompson was able to beat cancer twice before passing away in 2017 at her home in the U.S. state of North Carolina at the age of 94. She even ran another half marathon shortly before her death.

Before Thompson, the record was held by Gladys Burrill, who was 92 years and 19 days old in Honolulu in 2010.

The oldest marathon runner in Germany

There are no completely reliable data on this. However, it could be Arne Haase, who stood on the starting line at the Frankfurt Marathon in 2018 at the age of 86. With a time of 6:09:36 hours, Arne Haase finished in 8,294th place at the time.

In Austria, Felix Pauli is well known to everyone. He ran 10 marathons within 10 days in 2021. That alone is extraordinary. It becomes even more impressive when you consider that the Lower Austrian was 81 years old at the time. At over 80, he can run the marathon in about five hours. Many an amateur runner half his age can only dream of that.

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