While most of us would feel lucky to lace up our running shoes past the age of 90, one Frenchman has gone miles beyond that—26.2, to be exact.
Charly Bancarel, 93, finished the Paris Marathon on April 2, becoming the race’s oldest finisher and the third nonagenarian to do so.
Bancarel, who lives in Salers, France, stopped the timers at 7 hours, 22 minutes, and 11 seconds, finishing 50,769th out of 50,800 runners.
Even though Bancarel didn’t take up running until 55, he’s dove headfirst into the sport, completing more than 10 marathons—his first was the iconic Marathon du Médoc at age 70. (“I must be the only one who didn’t stop for the tastings,” he joked to the UK Daily News.) He runs at least 6 miles daily and alternates his miles with cycling, sometimes riding more than 15 miles.
“At the end of each year, I write down how many kilometers I have cycled and run: in 2016, 1,000 kilometers of races and 3,300 of bike, in 2017, 770 and 3,800,” Bancarel said.
While Bancarel didn’t achieve his goal of completing the race in under 5 hours, it seems likely he’ll return to the starting line next year—and he has an even bigger goal in mind: the Marathon Pour Tous, the amateur version of the Olympic marathon at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
“We must always continue,” Bancarel told French television after finishing last week’s race, according to News in France. “We don’t stop when we grow old, but we grow old if we stop.”
Source : Runner’s World
