Washington, June 6 (IANS) Running his third marathon in 33 days, India’s grand old marathon man Ashis Roy has completed his 104th marathon finishing the Sunburst Marathon in South Bend, Indiana, in pouring rain.
Roy, who turned 78 June 1, finished the 26.2 mile run through South Bend town and along St Joseph River Saturday in 6 hours and 43 minutes – four minutes more than his last run in Bob Potts Heritage Rail Trail Marathon in York, Pennsylvania two weeks ago.
It was pretty hot when the race started at 6 a.m. but he still managed to complete the first half in a comfortable 3 hours and 15 minutes, but around the 19th mile on the return run it started raining heavily slowing him down a bit.
The veteran Indian runner, who completed his 100th marathon in Mumbai Jan 17, has no plans to hang his boots yet. ‘I want to keep running to show to the world that Indians too can do well in sports,’ Roy, the oldest of 840 participants told IANS on phone.
Amazed that he was still running at 78, a few came up to him and said: ‘You are a superman’. ‘It was a grand feeling,’ said Roy.
Another reason that keeps him going is: ‘I want to tell the sports authorities in India that they should not restrict sports to youth only. But it should be open to all.’
Roy, who has penned a book on ‘Joy of Running’ is listed in the Limca Book of Records, and has, to date, competed in 37 marathons in India and 67 marathons in 20 other countries, including the International Veterans Marathon in Athens in 1986.
Roy, a resident of New Delhi, began running marathons at the age of 52 when he retired as a cardiologist with the Indian Air Force.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)