You never hear of anyone dying of happiness.' And Singh is, by his own admission, pretty happy. 'Why worry about these small, small things? I don't stress. Speaking in Punjabi, Singh says running has given him purpose and a sense of peace. 'I lost my speed in this race,' says Singh, 'but it was the thought of that old man that pushed me through the last four miles. He is referring to the record set in 1976 by a 98-year-old Greek athlete. I just wanted to break that bloody record.' 'I was so worried we might not make it that we didn't tell our relatives we were doing it. 'Girl, you tell me: has anything you wanted ever been easy?' he says. (And he didn't finish last: five came in after him.)Īt five foot eight and weighing a little more than eight stone, Singh is a spindly figure under his heavy turban and wispy beard. 'A nything worth doing is going to be difficult,' says Fauja Singh, the 100-year-old runner who this week became the world's oldest person to complete a full-length marathon, crossing the line at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront event in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds.
