Nonagenarian power! 93-year-old man finishes Paris Marathon

Stock image. Maarten van den Heuvel (Pexels)

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So, what do you hope to be doing if you live long enough to be in your early 90s (if you aren’t already)?

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How about running a marathon?

Before responding with “Yeah right, “That’s laughable” or “I can’t even do that in my 40s or 50s,” then receive some inspiration out of 93-year old Charly Bancarel.

A Frenchman, Bancarel did more than just compete during the Paris Marathon on April 2 as a nonagenarian (someone who is between 90 and 99).

Bancarel actually finished the race at his age, completing the course in 7 hours, 22 minutes and 11 seconds.

To see a video of him running courtesy of Twitter, click or tap here.

“We must always continue,” Bancarel said to French television afterwards, according to a translation from newsinfrance.com. “We don’t stop when we grow old, but we grow old if we stop.”

According to the article on newsinfrance.com, Bancarel got a late start into running.

Bancarel didn’t start running until he was 55, but the Paris Marathon was the 11th marathon he’s completed.

He didn’t even finish last in the race, taking the 50,769th position out of 50,800 participants, all the while getting encouragement from hordes of supporters who gravitated to his story.

“It’s wonderful, I have tears in my eyes to have received so much encouragement, applause,” Bancarel said, according to newsinfrance.com.

It just goes to show that you indeed are only as old as you feel.


About the Author:

Keith is a member of Graham Media Group's Digital Content Team, which produces content for all the company's news websites.