At 99 years of age, Fauja Singh is one of the oldest Marathon runners in the world. He has run in over 10 marathons, and has broken 12 UK, European, Commonwealth, and World Records. He had set the British senior records for the 400 meters, 800m, 1 mile, and 3000m. You’re probably thinking, “Hey Billal, I could do that”, well you got a lot of nerve punk! Not only did he break these records, he did it all in one afternoon over the span of 94 minutes
A bright eyed baby faced Fauja Singh began his running career at the tender age of 81. He soon redeveloped a flare for running and became well noticed when in 2003 he set the marathon world record for the 90-year-old+ category completing the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 5 hours and 40 minutes. Eventually Fauja was asked to appear with David Beckham in the Adidias “Impossible is Nothing” campaign to which Fauja commented, “Who is this David Beckham?” Adidas eventually named a shoe-range in Fauja’s honour, while Beckham went onto model underwear. OH! I get it! Suddenly a 99 year old Punjabi man from Jalandhar isn’t good enough to model CK underwear! YOU IMPERIAL RACISTS!
When asked how he manages to stay in such great shape, Fauja answered, “a daily eight-mile walk and run, no smoking or drinking, plenty of smiling, and lashings of ginger curry.” Fauja also muttered something about the lungs of a Cheetah and radioactivity, but no one was really listening. As you probably already guessed, Fauja gives every penny that he raises from running to charity.
When asked how he manages to stay in such great shape, Fauja answered, “a daily eight-mile walk and run, no smoking or drinking, plenty of smiling, and lashings of ginger curry.” Fauja also muttered something about the lungs of a Cheetah and radioactivity, but no one was really listening. As you probably already guessed, Fauja gives every penny that he raises from running to charity.
Also, against popular belief, the number “10999” on Fauja Singh’s shirt is not the year he was born. This is an obvious fallacy as it does not end with letters “BC”. In reality the “10999” is the number of people Fauja Singh has Punjabi-kicked out cold for making fun of his age. So the next time you see Fauja he’s probably going to be wearing the number 11000, while I’ll be wearing a full body caste. Please don’t hurt me sir. I have a young sister who is very sick… you can go after her instead.
I know what you’re thinking, but those guys aren’t auditions for Dumbledore in a Punjabi adaptation of a Harry potter movie. Incidentally, the movie would probably be renamed Hardeep Pritar and the Order of the Arranged Marriage. Much like the original, Hardeep will try to escape the clutches of a pasty white monster that intends to break his spirit. An interesting fact about Hardeep Pritar, he is the youngest “sikh-er” on his quidditch team. Unlike the real Harry Potter who uses a Nimbus 2000 broom, Hardeep has a ’78 Jharoo his Dad bought used. I realize that this the whole Sikh Harry potter thing went kind of far, but if you are Sikh, and love Harry Potter, than I just made your day.
As I was saying, the 3 elderly gentlemen you see here were Fauja Singh’s running team at the relay at Edinburgh. Fauja let the team go with the name, “The Sikhs in the City” which is such a totally Miranda thing to do. The oldest member of the team was Fauja, and the youngest member at 72 was Amrik “Young Money” Singh. When asked why he was running with fellow senior teammates, Fauja answered, “By running as the oldest ever marathon relay team I hope we will inspire young people to keep going and older people never to give up.”
Fauja has also run as one of the torch-bearers for the Athens Olympics in 2004, and has personally been invited by former Pakistani President Parvez Musharraf to run in the Lahore Marathon. Ironically, the last thing Musharraf can ever do is run in Pakistan. When asked how he felt about all the attention he was getting, Fauja replied, “It makes me happy. Elderly people are like little children, they like attention.” Now if that didn’t bring a smile to your face, than its fair to say you’re probably a bastard. Finally, when asked when he would stop running, Fauja Singh replied, “When I die.”
Now I’m pretty sure Fauja Singh is never going to read this article. But, if he does, I would just like to say that on behalf of the entire South Asian community, thank you for showing us that it’s never too late to find and do something that you love, and thank you for inspiring us to carry on even in the face of adversity.
Fauja has also run as one of the torch-bearers for the Athens Olympics in 2004, and has personally been invited by former Pakistani President Parvez Musharraf to run in the Lahore Marathon. Ironically, the last thing Musharraf can ever do is run in Pakistan. When asked how he felt about all the attention he was getting, Fauja replied, “It makes me happy. Elderly people are like little children, they like attention.” Now if that didn’t bring a smile to your face, than its fair to say you’re probably a bastard. Finally, when asked when he would stop running, Fauja Singh replied, “When I die.”
Now I’m pretty sure Fauja Singh is never going to read this article. But, if he does, I would just like to say that on behalf of the entire South Asian community, thank you for showing us that it’s never too late to find and do something that you love, and thank you for inspiring us to carry on even in the face of adversity.