From rxpgnews.com
74-year-old Indian completes 75 marathons
By IANS,
Apr 29, 2007 - 4:47:33 PM
New Delhi, April 29 - Septuagenarian Ashis Roy created a unique record by successfully completing 75 marathons after he finished the Country Music Marathon at Nashville, Tennessee, in the US Saturday.
Roy, 74, was the only Indian among the 7,000 runners for the full marathon of 42.2 km distance and completed the race in 5 hours 38 minutes, according to information received here. The weather was very hot with the mercury touching 30 degree Celsius and the terrain was hilly and made running difficult.
Still, Roy ran a well-planned race and in spite of hip and knee pain due to osteo-arthritis; he improved his time of his last marathon a month back in Virgina Beach by nine minutes.
There were large crowds along the route who cheered the runner by shouting 'You are awesome Roy'.
Roy's much improved performance is due to hard training for last five weeks in extreme cold climate of -10 to -14 C temperatures with strong winds lashing at a speed of 50 km per hour and sometimes with snow in the US and Canada.
Roy has run the highest number of marathons, 75, as an Indian and also as an Asian. Out of 31 marathons in India, he won 20 marathons in the 45+ years age group and still holds the unbroken Indian record for marathon of 3 hour 10 min in the 55+ years age group made by him in 1987.
Out of 44 marathons abroad, Roy was declared winner in his age group on 15 races and he was the first Indian to run marathon after attaining the age of 60 years and of 70 years.
He was also the only man in Asia to run three marathons on three consecutive Sundays in the US in 1999 at the age of 67 and stood first in all three in his age group category.
Roy's achievements in marathons are unmatched in India. He ran his first marathon at the age of 52 years and still wants to continue to run marathons.
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