India’s Marathon Man completes 77 marathons

By IANS

Virgina : Ashis Roy, 75, India's grand old long distance runner, successfully completed his 77th marathon when he ran in the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon at West Virgina in the United States.


Support TwoCircles

There were a total of 300 runners in the marathon. The route was hilly and through coal mines and at one place there was a straight climb of one mile up.

The weather was hot and humid with bright sunshine. The temperature was 28 degrees celsius at the start and 38 degrees celsius at the finish. It was a difficult marathon and Roy was the oldest runner but finished ahead of many runners half his age.

Roy finished in 6 hrs and stood fifth in his age group of 70 plus men. This was the longest time that Roy has taken to finish a marathon, the reason being the hot and humid weather and the hilly terrain with inclines of 2000 to 4000 feet.

The local people lined the route and were surprised to see an old Indian running so well in the difficult marathon and cheered him all through.

Roy has run four marathons in a span of 10 weeks which is unheard of for a 70 plus runner. Roy's record of marathon running could be attributed to his extraordinary physical fitness and mental strength at his age. Roy, a medical doctor by profession who lives in New Delhi, now plans to complete 80 marathons by the end of the year.

(Dr Ashis Roy can be contacted at [email protected])

SUPPORT TWOCIRCLES HELP SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND NON-PROFIT MEDIA. DONATE HERE