Fauja Singh, who defied age on marathon track, dies in road accident at 114

Veteran marathon runner Fauja Singh, who had completed a full marathon at the age of 100 thus becoming the oldest person to be doing so, died on Monday after being hit by an unidentified vehicle at his native Beas village in Punjab’s Jalandhar district. He was 114.

Fauja Singh, fondly called ‘Turbaned Tornado’, turned 114 on April 1 this year and had run a total of nine full marathons in his career spanning 14 years (2000 to 2013). He became the face of Adidas campaign ‘Impossible is Nothing’ which also included boxing legend Muhammad Ali and football legend David Beckham.

Born in Beas village on April 1, 1911, Fauja Singh was the youngest of four children in a farming family. It was in 1993 that he immigrated to England to be with one of his sons after his wife Gian Kaur’s death. “I was very weak as a child. I had faced trouble walking till the age of five years but then as I spent time at the farm and with the support of my family and waheguru, I started walking,” Singh had told The Indian Express on a visit to Chandigarh a few years ago.

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During his time in England, Singh started long walks and running in public parks near his Ilford home. After coming in contact with marathon coach Harmandar Singh, Fauja Singh competed in the London Marathon in April 2000 at the age of 89 and completed it in 6 hours and 54 minutes, bettering the earlier world record in the senior age category by 58 minutes. “Prior to the London Marathon, he would train in any kind of weather. There was one charity called Bliss, which raised money for newborn kids and during his whole career, he always supported charities across the world,” Harmandar told The Indian Express over phone from England.

“When i met Fauja Singh, he did not know about a marathon being 42.195-km-long. He used to run in 20-km events. He had come in a suit to meet me to train and I gave him my track suit. Within six months, he ran his first London Marathon in April 2000. He went on to run nine marathons within 11 years of his career, making him one of the greatest marathon runners in the world. His loss is a loss to the whole running community as well the world,” Harmandar Singh said.

From 2000 to 2012, Fauja Singh ran London Marathon six times, Toronto Marathon twice and New York Marathon once.

Author Khushwant Singh, who had written his biography ‘Turbaned Tornado’, shared his memories of Fauja Singh. “Babe ne hamesha duniya nu dita hi hai (Baba always gave something to this world). He always used to support charities across the world. I first met him in 2005 when I was writing my book, ‘Sikhs Unlimited’. It was a huge thing at that time when he became the poster boy for Adidas campaign. When we released the biography in 2011 at House of Lords in London, Fauja Baba was excited that his story would reach the world. With his feats, he wrote his name in history. Once we were in Australia, people honoured him with dollars. He collected that money and put it in the Gurdwara ‘golak’ (offering box),” Khushwant said.

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Fauja Singh was given the British Empire Medal for his services to sport and charity in 2015. He was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honour by the National Ethnic Coalition in 2013 in the US apart from being the one of the torchbearers for the London Olympics. “He met Queen Elizabeth II many times and always shared his views about fitness and giving back to society through a translator,” Harmandar said.

In 2011, Fauja Singh ran the Toronto Marathon at the age of 100 and clocked 8 hours and 11 minutes. The next year he ran his last marathon in London, clocking 7 hours, 49 minutes and 21 seconds. Later, Fauja Singh ran in the 10-km category in marathons with the Hongkong event in 2013 being his last international participation. Fauja Singh also competed in the 10-km category in the Lahore marathon once and his feat was lauded by then Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.

His son Harvinder remembered his father’s love for running. “He said the open air and soil kept his body alive,” recalled Harvinder, who took his father to hospital immediately after the accident and was still at the hospital to complete the formalities.

Back in London, Harmandar has started a campaign to collect money for a clubhouse in the memory of Ilford’s “adopted son”. “We are raising money for the clubhouse under the permission of the city council by collecting 114 pounds each from close to 9,000 people in the world to build the clubhouse to carry the Fauja Singh legacy,” said Harmandar.

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