True story · No. 43

The World's Oldest Marathon Runner? Fauja Singh, 100 Years Old in Toronto

The oldest marathon runner in the world, according to the AP, is Fauja Singh. On October 16, 2011, in Toronto, he finished a marathon at 100 years old, going by his passport. Yet Guinness never validated his record: it lacks a birth certificate, and nobody can provide one.

By the PacePoster desk · October 16, 2026 · 3 min · 12 sources

Fauja Singh finishing the Valentines Park parkrun, aged 101, in 2012 gtalewar, April 1, 2012, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone

01He starts running at 89

Fauja Singh was born in Punjab, India. His British passport gives his birth date as April 1, 1911. After the death of his wife and one of his sons, he moved to England, to Ilford in east London. He started running at 89 years old. He later said, quoted by the AP: “From a tragedy has come a lot of success and happiness.” His first marathon was London, in 2000. The organizers present him as the oldest finisher in their history: he was still finishing in 2004, at 93.

100 yearsat Toronto, 2011

89 yearsfirst steps

5 hr 40best marathon

02Toronto, October 16, 2011

That Sunday, he lines up at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. He finishes in 8 hr 25 min according to NBC and SikhNet, in a little over 8 hr 11 min according to NPR. His best marathon remains Toronto 2003: 5 hr 40 min. At 100 years old, he becomes the first centenarian to finish the distance. At least for those who saw him go by.

We can only accept official birth documents created in the year of the birth
Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records (2011)

03The missing paper

Guinness refuses to certify it: it needs a birth certificate. The runner presents his British passport, a letter from the Queen for his 100th birthday, a letter from the Indian authorities explaining that no birth registry was kept in 1911, and the testimony of a former neighbor. None of it is judged sufficient. Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of Guinness, settles it: “We can only accept official birth documents created in the year of the birth.”

Fauja Singh in 2013 HiraV, 2013, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone, same license

04A letter from the Queen isn't enough?

“A letter from the Queen isn't sufficient?” wonders Mark Remy of Runner's World, quoted by NPR. For Guinness, the oldest man to finish a marathon remains Dimitrion Yordanidis: 98 years old, in Athens, in 1976. World Masters Athletics, the world governing body for veterans, accepts a passport as proof of age: according to SikhNet, it lists Fauja Singh for his over-90 record, set in Toronto in 2003.

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05One last race, then Punjab

He carries the torch at the London 2012 Games. His last race takes place in Hong Kong in 2013, at 101: a 10 km, finished in 1:32:28 according to the AP. In 2018, the London Marathon gives him one of its first “Spirit of the London Marathon” awards. He eventually returns to live in India, in his native village.

06His death

Fauja Singh dies on July 14, 2025, struck by a car near his home in Beas Pind, in the Jalandhar district of Punjab. The driver fled. He was 114 according to his passport. His London club, Sikhs in the City, confirmed the news.

Sources for this story (12)

Every fact was cross-checked in at least two independent sources. Where they disagree, the story says so.