Jalandhar, July 15: The world’s oldest marathon runner Fauja Singh died on Monday afternoon. 114-year-old Fauja Singh was hit by an unknown vehicle in his native village Beas Pind in Jalandhar district of Punjab, due to which he died.
Fauja Singh was born on April 1, 1911. He gained international recognition when he started running marathons at the age of 89. He moved to UK after the death of his wife Gian Kaur in 1993 and there he made running a part of his life.
According to his biography ‘Turbaned Tornado’, Fauja started running to overcome deep depression after the death of several family members. Initially, he used to take long walks in the public parks of Ilford (UK), then gradually moved towards long distance running. The special thing was that he was very weak in childhood and could not even walk properly till the age of five.
Fauja Singh met marathon coach Harmander Singh, who trained him for marathon. He completed his first marathon at the age of 89 in the London Marathon in 2001 and covered the distance of 42.2 kilometers in 6 hours 54 minutes. This time was almost an hour better than the previous record time in the 85+ age group. In 2011, when he was 100 years old, he created a world record by completing the Toronto Waterfront Marathon and became the oldest marathon finisher. The next year he ran his last marathon in London, which he completed in 7 hours 49 minutes.
Between 2001 and 2012, he completed a total of 9 full marathons, including London Marathon 6 times, Toronto Marathon 2 times and New York Marathon 1 time. After 2012, he stopped participating in full marathons but continued to participate in 10km races. He completed his last competitive race in Hong Kong in 2013. He continued to participate in marathon events and inspire other runners.
Fauja Singh remained an inspiration even in the last years of his life. He was part of Adidas’ ‘Impossible is Nothing’ campaign, carried the Olympic torch at the London 2012 Olympics and was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2015.
Several prominent personalities condoled his death. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria paid tribute to Fauja Singh. Governor Kataria shared a memory from last year when Fauja Singh participated with him in the ‘Nasha Mukt, Rangla Punjab’ walkathon.