100-year-old India-born marathoner finishes race

Toronto: A 100-year-old runner became the oldest person to complete a full-distance marathon when he finished the race in Toronto on Sunday. Indian-born Fauja Singh earned a spot in the Guinness World Book of Records for his accomplishment. It took Singh more than eight hours to cross the finish line - more than six hours after Kenya's Kenneth Mungara won the event for the fourth straight year - and he was the last competitor to complete the course. But his time wasn't nearly as remarkable as the accomplishment.Event workers dismantled the barricades along the finish line and took down sponsor banners even as Singh made his way up the final few hundred yards of the race. Family, friends and supporters greeted Singh when he finished the race. "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 lifelong wish." Sunday's run was Singh's eighth marathon - he ran his first at age 89 - and wasn't the first time he set a record. In the 2003 Toronto event, he set the mark in the 90-plus category, finishing the race in 5 hours, 40 minutes and 1 second. And on Thursday in Toronto, Singh broke world records for runners older than 100 in eight different distances ranging from 100 meters to 5,000 meters. Singh said he's hopeful his next project will be participating in the torch relay for the 2012 London Games. He carried the torch during the relay for the 2004 Athens Games.
 Fauja Singh
Fauja Singh (born April 1, 1911) is a Sikh marathon runner in his nineties from India who now lives in the UK. He is a world-record holder in his age bracket in various sporting categories. He is Britain's most popular Sikh in his 90's. He has set various marathon records in the over 90's category. In 2004, he was featured in an advertising campaign for sportswear manufacturer Adidas.
Fauja Singh came to London in 1992 to live with his son after his wife's death in his village in Jalandhar. "Sitting at home was really killing", he says in Punjabi. "Most elderly people in Britain eat a rich diet, don't move about and only travel in cars, and that makes them sick", he says. He wasn't prepared to go the same way. So he took up jogging initially to beat the boredom of sitting at home.
"I never thought of running a Marathon then. But slowly it grew". What surprises many is that he supports his eight stone and six feet tall body frame with a very simple vegetarian diet. "I am very careful about different foods. My diet is simple phulka (chappati), dal (lentils), green vegetables, yoghurt and milk. I do not touch parathas, pakoras, rice or any other fried food. I take lots of water and tea with ginger."
And that smile is eternally fixed beneath his silver haired beard. Perhaps that's the reason behind his strikingly inspiring and positive attitude. "I go to bed early taking the name of my Rabba [God] as I don't want all those negative thoughts crossing my mind." Doesn't he find it difficult to cover 26 miles at this age? "The first 20 miles are not difficult. As for last six miles, I run while talking to God".
While running Marathon races in London, New York, Toronto, India, etc he has raised thousands of pounds for various charities promoting Sikh culture around the world. He has also raised money for B.L.I.S.S., a charity dedicated to the care for premature babies. He describes it as the 'oldest running for the youngest'.
Fauja Singh shot to fame in 2000, when aged 89, he completed the gruelling 26.2 mile (about 42 km) distance in 6 hours and 54 minutes. This knocked 58 minutes off the previous world best for anyone in the 90 plus age bracket. The career of this extraordinary marathon runner is closely supervised by his personal trainer Harminder Singh. He says "He can still run for a few more years. And perhaps in five years he might be the oldest man to run a Marathon.'"
In 2004, Adidas signed him up for its 'Nothing Is Impossible' advertising campaign. He won't reveal how much money the deal involves, but says that a large part of his earnings went to charity.
But the question is how long can he continue to run marathons. Steven Carroll, an expert in sports medicine says that Fauja Singh should go on running for as long as he likes, provided his cardiovascular system is able to support his gruelling schedule. But, he cautioned: "No one should run a marathon, be they 16 or 93, without getting properly fit first. A marathon is a punishing event and anyone thinking of entering must build up endurance". On the Friday, April 16, 2004 just before the 2004 London Marathon, Fauja Singh had to go through his final medical test. "They had all types of machines and took many tests. Everything is fine with me. Though my one leg is weaker than the other, I can complete the run", he says with a disarming smile. That's why the Adidas billboard warns the Marathon runners from Kenya: "The Kenyans had better watch out for him when he hits 100".